Cardinals reveal crushing injury news to defensive line

Jones suffered the injury during the first half of Week 3’s 20-13 loss to the Detroit Lions.  The 6-foot-3, 309-pound Jones started the first three games at defensive tackle for Arizona (1-2) and had four tackles on the season and one tackle for loss after signing a three-year, $30.1 million deal to join the Cardinals in free agency this offseason, the highest amount of money Arizona paid any free agent.

Jones was originally a third-round (84th overall) pick out of NC State by the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2018 NFL Draft. He spent his first four years with the Chargers, playing in 51 games (36 starts), racking up 118 tackles (12 for loss), 4.5 sacks and 13 quarterback hits.

In March of 2022, the 28 year old signed a two-year contract with the Chicago Bears and started all 34 games in the past two seasons. Jones recorded 101 tackles (22 for loss), eight sacks and had 24 QB hits with Chicago.

Gannon added that the Cardinals will re-sign Naquan Jones, who played in four games with the team last season, to help fill out the defensive tackle depth. The move is now official.

The Cardinals defensive tackle room is already pretty thin with first-round rookie Darius Robinson placed on injured reserve (with a designation to return) before the season started.

Now, Arizona will have to rely on Naquan Jones, Bilal Nichols, Dante Stills and L.J. Collier to make up for Jones’ absence.

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