Arizona Cardinals starting cornerback Will Johnson suffered a neck injury in the team’s 31-7 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Head coach Mike LaFleur provided a devastating injury update on Johnson the day after.
“Will’s got a neck,” said LaFleur in his livestreamed September 21 presser. “Potentially could miss the whole season.”
At the minimum, Johnson will be headed to injured reserve. Based on what LaFleur said, he’ll miss a lot more than the minimum four games.
“You’re sick for Will, for obvious reasons, the person over the player. And then obviously his teammates are sick for him too.”
The Cardinals coach did not provide any additional specifics on Johnson’s neck injury and whether he requires surgery to address it.
Cardinals Fear Season-Ending Neck Injury for Will Johnson
Losing a starting cornerback for the rest of the season certainly hurts for the Cardinals. That means other players will have to step up and replace Will Johnson on the field.
Arizona has a pretty deep cornerback room in terms of bodies. They have five other cornerbacks on the 53-man roster, plus Starling Thomas on the practice squad.
“What’s great is we have a deep corner room,” said Mike LaFleur. “Star’s played a lot of football here, Star’s played good football, and Star’s in a good spot headspace-wise and physically.”
The Cardinals will likely make a roster move concerning Johnson. The second-year cornerback is certain to head to injured reserve, which opens up a spot on the 53-man roster. The question is what they’ll do to fill that open spot.
They could choose to either sign Thomas to the 53-man roster or keep him on the practice squad and elevate him. Arizona can use three standard elevations from the practice squad for any player during the regular season. After the third elevation, they have to be signed to the 53-man roster to play.
Cardinals Cornerback Room Entering Week 3
With Will Johnson sidelined for the foreseeable future, that places a lot of pressure on the Cardinals’ depth.
Two other injury situations at the position are worth monitoring. Garrett Williams has been ruled inactive for the Cardinals’ first two games of the season, as he’s working back from an Achilles injury. Williams has been a limited participant in practice in both weeks.
Max Melton also dealt with an injury during the Seahawks game. The third-year corner had a toe injury that knocked him out of the end of his game. How he practices this week will be important, as the Cardinals could be down to their third and fourth corner on the outside.
It almost seems certain the Cardinals will dress their corners for that Week 3 game. Starling Thomas will either be a practice squad elevation or 53-man signing. He’d join a cornerback room of Williams, Melton, Denzel Burke, Kalen King, and Kei’Trel Clark.
Arizona will have to be mindful of the 49ers’ receiving trio of Deebo Samuel, Mike Evans, and Demarcus Robinson.
Cardinals Get Devastating Injury News on Starting Cornerback After Seahawks Loss