Cardinals LT Paris Johnson Jr. Out For Season

Although Johnson did not leave the field upon suffering the injury on Sunday, he departed a few plays later. The Cardinals replaced Johnson with seventh-round rookie Jayden Williams, who played six snaps in their 36-24 loss to the Giants. He and Josh Fryar, an undrafted free agent pickup in 2025, are now the Cardinals’ top healthy options on the blind side. Williams has never made a start, while Fryar has tallied five at left tackle.

Fryar stepped in last year after Johnson went down with what proved to be a season-ending PCL sprain in December. Adding in another knee injury from late in 2024, Johnson has now seen his season come to an early end three years in a row. With his 2026 campaign already in the books, the 6-foot-6, 325-pounder will have appeared in just 47 of a possible 68 games during his four seasons.

Despite Johnson’s health woes, he has been an effective full-time starter since he came off the board in the first round of the 2023 draft. The Cardinals entered the proceedings with the third overall pick, but general manager Monti Ossenfort made two trades – one enabled the Texans to take Will Anderson Jr.; the other allowed the Lions to grab Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta – and ended up at No. 6. Ossenfort, who was a rookie GM at the time, tapped Johnson as the first selection of his tenure. Johnson stepped in as a 17-game starter at right tackle in his first season, but the Ohio State product then shifted to the left to take over longtime stalwart D.J. Humphries.

The Ossenfort-led Cardinals saw enough positives during Johnson’s first three seasons to exercise his fifth-year option last spring. He is set to earn $19.1MM in 2027, which could be his last year in Arizona. Johnson turned heads back in June when he brought up $40MM as a potential average salary on a contract extension, especially considering the Commanders’ Laremy Tunsil ($30.1MM) is the lone tackle in the NFL even making $30MM per year. However, Johnson later clarified his comments in July.

“When I started speaking on that, the question was more about how you would grade an elite tackle and how you start to measure yourself as an elite tackle,” he said. “My answer was exactly this: when I watch tape, when I go to practice and when I play in a game, my mindset is to be the $40 million man. When I watch my tape, I ask myself, ‘Would you pay this guy $40 million?’ That’s how I watch my tape.”

Johnson’s latest injury means he won’t be able to put anything on tape until next year, which will not help his cause if extension talks occur in the offseason. For their part, the Cardinals may prefer to see if he can stay healthy before they seriously consider a long-term commitment.