The Arizona Cardinals’ first injury report of the week for Week 13 does not come out until Wednesday afternoon, but they could be looking at some concern for their depth at cornerback.
Why?
The team protected four players on the practice squad this week and two of them are cornerbacks.
According to Tuesday’s NFL transaction report, the Cardinals protected these four players:
- Long snapper Beau Brinkley
- Linebacker Tahir Whitehead
- Cornerback Jace Whittaker
- Cornerback Kevin Peterson
Brinkley is a no-brainer, as he is the only long snapper on the roster. Whitehead was elevated in Week 11 and played special teams.
Whittaker has played on special teams this season when elevated. Peterson was elevated once but was not active.
But with two cornerbacks protected, it makes one wonder if there is an injury to the four active cornerbacks — Byron Murphy, Robert Alford, Marco Wilson, Antonio Hamilton. If Hamilton is hurt, they would need someone to fill his role on special teams.
If one of the three starters is hurt, Hamilton would slide into the playing rotation on defense and then his role would still need to be filled on special teams.
So we will keep an eye on the injury report to see if there is an extra reason to protect the cornerbacks this week.
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