What Starling Thomas’ injury means for Cardinals in 2025 season

What’s next for Cardinals?

The injury means it’s next man up for the franchise on its depth chart, with three names expected to pick up the slack: Will Johnson, Max Melton and Garrett Williams. After having two experienced defensive backs in front of him on the lineup, with Johnson has quickly climbed up the ranks and has a strong argument to being CB1 for the defense.

The 2nd-round pick was a projected top-10 before injury concerns, and now ironically will find an increase amount of reps because of injuries to his teammates. Johnson is an All-American, who helped lead the Michigan Wolverines to a National Championship and will make an impact in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers.

Fellow 2nd-round pick, Melton, appeared in all 17 games but only started three. He was behind Thomas in pass deflections with five of his own and had 51 tackles last season. The 23-year-old is entering only his second year but is forced to pick up his responsibility in the secondary.

Williams is the highest-ranked zone coverage defensive back in the NFL by PFF. The 24-year-old has a case for the most underrated cornerback in the league, leading the Cardinals with nine pass deflections. Williams appeared in 16 games and started 11 last year, as he has become a ball hawk in Nick Rallis’ defense.

The trio of cornerbacks have an average age of 23-year-old and three seasons of pro football amongst them. Safeties Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson are the veteran leaders for the secondary and the defense, with their biggest responsibilities of giving the tools to the trio of cornerbacks to pick up the slack for the injuries plaguing the team heading into 2025.