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Cardinals knew about CB Murphy-Bunting injury before 2025 draft

Originally posted on Burn City Sports
By Tanner Tortorella | Last updated May 23, 2025 8:23 PM ET

GLENDALE – The announcement of Arizona Cardinals placing cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting on reserve/non-football injury list, ending his 2025 season. Murphy-Bunting signed a 3-year $25.5 million contract with the franchise last offseason and started in 15 games. The 27-year-old recorded three interceptions and five pass deflections in his lone season in the Valley and will spend the second year on the sidelines. A development that wasn’t a surprise to the Cardinals.

According to ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss, Arizona knew about Murphy-Bunting’s season-ending injury before the 2025 NFL draft, which led to general manager Monti Ossenfort having the draft that played out.

Weinfuss on Murphy-Bunting’s injury:

“Some context to the Cardinals putting Sean Murphy-Bunting on the NFI list, which will cause him to miss the 2025 season: Arizona knew about Murphy-Bunting’s injury before the draft and it influenced the Cardinals’ approach, a source told ESPN.

“They ended up drafting two corners – Will Johnson out of Michigan and Denzel Burke out of Ohio State – last month. SMB’s absence will force Arizona to bring along some younger CBs faster than the Cardinals had intended.”

The news about Ossenfort and the front office knowing about Murphy-Bunting’s injury make them being able to grab Will Johnson 47th overall even sweeter. It’s surprising that the franchise didn’t panic to try and trade up to grab Johnson when he first began to slip because of losing a starting defensive back.

Ossenfort grabbed an All-American in Johnson and a Arizona-native in Ohio State’s Denzel Burke to work together to fill in the absence of Murphy-Bunting ahead of next season. Johnson is touted as a future No. 1 cornerback in a secondary, but the time for him to step up comes sooner than expected after the devasting injury news surrounding Murphy-Bunting.

This article first appeared on Burn City Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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