TEMPE -- Game prep for the Carolina Panthers in Week 2 is officially underway for the Arizona Cardinals here at the team's practice facility.
During the team's open portion of practice for reporters, all of Kelvin Beachum, Tip Reiman and Cody Simon were not present.
Beachum is likely on a veteran's day off - similar to what he did last week. Beachum didn't play at all in Arizona's 20-13 win against the New Orleans Saints last week. He typically operates as Arizona's swing backup tackle.
Simon suffered a concussion during kickoff duties in New Orleans and was out for the remainder of the game. As of our latest update on Monday, head coach Jonathan Gannon confirmed he was still in protocol. The rookie inside linebacker didn't play any defensive snaps but played 10 special teams plays before exiting.
Reiman's reason for absence is currently unknown. Arizona utilizes Reiman heavily in the run game (52% of snaps played on Sunday) while the backup tight end also played 12 special teams snaps.
Safety Joey Blount was placed on injured reserve today after being hurt on the same play Simon was. He was ruled out for the season.
In his place, the Cardinals signed WR Simi Fehoko to the active roster and Channing Tindall to the practice squad - you can read more about those moves here.
"Offensively, their quarterback (Bryce Young) is a good player, and he can beat you with his arm and his legs. They got a couple good skill guys, and their o-line is really good. Really good. They play to their numbers. There's no doubt about that," Gannon said when asked about the Carolina matchup.
"(OL) Robert Hunt's one of the best in the world in my opinion. (Chuba) Hubbard is a good back. He's tough to tackle. They drafted the kid from Arizona (Tet McMillan). We liked him a lot. He's a big guy - good route runner, contested catches, and it starts with the quarterback. He can dice you up, and if you don't rush him the right way, he makes you pay with his legs. He's got really good escape mobility, and can beat you with his arm and his legs. So that's a big time challenge for us.
"Defensively they got some new guys over there, obviously a premier corner (Jaycee Horn) who I have a high opinion of, a premier defensive tackle who did not play versus us last year (Derrick Brown) - he's back trainwrecking the game. They got some rushers - they signed the kid from LA (Christian Rozeboom), he's running the show in the middle there. He's a really good player. They signed a safety (Tre'von Moehrig) that's a good player from Vegas. And they've got a good scheme. So we got our work cut out for us."
We should get our first injury report for Week 2 later today.
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