Cardinals GM Confirms Fan-Favorite Nearing Return

The return of Mijo is almost near.

The Arizona Cardinals lost starting right guard Will Hernandez last season to a torn ACL after just a few weeks of football, leaving a void both in the starting lineup and in the locker room.

Hernandez hit free agency this past offseason and eventually inked a contract with the Cardinals to return to the desert, at minimum providing depth to an offensive line that's needed it.

Given Arizona's current state at guard with both Evan Brown and Isaiah Adams performing below expectations, he may be called upon to re-enter the lineup upon first opportunity.

That's coming soon, according to Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort.

Cardinals OL Nearing Return

Ossenfort, appearing on Arizona Sports' 98.7 FM, offered the following when asked about Hernandez:

"Every week he's ramped up his time and ramped up what he's doing and he's getting closer. He's put a lot of hard work in to be where he's at. To be able to have him on the practice field and to gain those valuable reps, it's put him in a good spot," said Ossenfort (h/t Tyler Drake).

Sources told Cardinals On SI that Hernandez initially signed back with Arizona this summer with the understanding that he'd only be thrust into the starting lineup either due to injury or poor play.

As stated above, both guard spots have come under fire despite the Cardinals' 2-0 start. In Pro Football Focus' grading scale, Brown ranks 67th and Adams is 84th out of 88 NFL eligible guards.

Arizona also hasn't been able to establish the run to their liking, which has contributed to their near inability to properly close out games to start the 2025.

“I think it’s everybody, I really do. When I say this, this is the truth; it takes all 11. All 11 have to be doing the right things, and there’s some plays where yesterday it didn’t come to fruition, but we are doing a lot of right things too," Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said earlier this week.

"I showed them a play today, the one that (RB) James Conner went to our sideline—I don’t know what he gained. He made the corner miss, and I think it was a first down, but (WR) Zay Jones blocks his guy, which is a really hard block on the backside of the run, and if James cuts that back, that’s the guy that’s going to tackle him.

"If he happened to cut it back there, he’s not going to get tackled because Zay Jones’ doing a good job, so it’s not all bad. It has to be better. It has to be more efficient and a little more productive, but there’s no panic in my game about the run game right now. I’ll say that.”

We might see Hernandez enter the lineup sooner than expected.

Latest Arizona Cardinals News