There have been varying levels of conflicting injury information provided by the Cardinals this week, and it continued Saturday when the club announced cornerback Robert Alford had been placed on reserve/injured as the result of a pectoral injury suffered in the Monday night game against the Rams.
On Tuesday, when head coach Kliff Kingsbury told the media wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins had injured his leg against the Rams, the specific truth was that Hopkins had injured his knee.
After Kingsbury talked about Hopkins and also said running back James Conner had injured his ankle, he was asked if there were any other injury issues from the game.
The head coach said, “No, nothing major.”
Perhaps some might argue that Alford’s injury isn’t major, but the reality is he didn’t practice all week and will now miss at least the next three games before being eligible to return.
Hopkins was also placed on reserve/injured Saturday, which was not a surprise after outside reports said the time he will miss because of a torn MCL will be anywhere from six weeks to 2-4 months.
The Cardinals refused to be specific about surgery for Hopkins despite one report saying it was scheduled for Friday and wide receiver A.J. Green saying Hopkins was in Los Angeles for the surgery. That jibes with reports that L.A.-based Dr. Neal ElAttrache would do the surgery.
Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim would not discuss a timetable for any possible return although Keim told ArizonaSports 98.7 FM Friday that there was hope “that maybe he could potentially be back by the playoffs and get him back and ready to go again soon.”
When he was asked to confirm if there’s a chance he could be back by the postseason, Keim said, “For sure. I would not rule it out.”
Is that realistic? Judge for yourself. Six weeks from this weekend is when conference championship games will be played. The postseason begins in four weeks.
Dr. David Chao (@profootballdoc) said the general downtime for a torn MCL is three months.
There was also a disconnect on center Rodney Hudson, who was placed on reserve/COVID-19 Thursday. Kingsbury said Hudson won’t play against the Lions, but Keim said he “has a chance to test out potentially. So we’ll keep our fingers crossed with him.”
Hudson was not activated from reserve Saturday, although running back Chase Edmonds and safety Charles Washington were activated from reserve/injured, designated for return and are expected to play Sunday.
In two other moves, cornerback Kevin Peterson was added to the roster from the practice squad as a standard elevation, while linebacker Joe Walker was elevated as a COVID-19 replacement. That move was actually reported to the league Friday.
Finally, defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson, who missed the game against the Rams because of COVID protocols, was back on the practice field late this past week.
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