The Cardinals’ 6 biggest surprises of 2019

The Cardinals had several players perform at a much higher level and have a much bigger role than probably anyone expected.

The Arizona Cardinals didn’t have a surprisingly good year in 2019. They improved to 5-10-1 and more or less finished the season where people believed they should be.

However, they did get some surprise contributions and performances from players fans didn’t expect.

Who were the biggest surprises of 2019?

OL Justin Murray

Murray wasn’t even on the team in the offseason. He was a waiver claim after final cuts and appeared to simply be a guy they wanted for depth. After all, what could be expected from a player who had played two career games and had been cut by five different teams in a little more than three years?

He became the starter and wasn’t bad. He missed two games because of a knee injury but played 14 games and started 12.

[protected-iframe id=”cf5e5fef1c00053a25fea0111e1875e9-112738498-106269283″ info=”https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/21222569/download.mp3″ ]

Pages: 123456

DL Jonathan Bullard to miss a couple of weeks; S Jalen Thompson day-to-day

The Cardinals could be down a couple of defensive starters this week.

[jwplayer JArwclpv-ThvAeFxT]

The Arizona Cardinals had two defensive starters leave the game on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams with injuries. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury gave an update on their status on Monday when he addressed the media.

Defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard suffered a hamstring on Sunday and was unable to return. Kingsbury told reporters, “It looks like he’ll be out a couple weeks.”

Bullard had missed the previous game with a foot injury and came back after the bye to play against the Rams. His injury will move Zach Kerr into the starting lineup and leave rookies Miles Brown and Michael Dogbe to come off the bench.

Rookie safety Jalen Thompson also left the game. At the time, it was not announced what injury he had. Kingsbury said Thompson is day-to-day with a head injury. Fellow rookie Deionte Thompson will fill in for him while he is out.

The first official injury of the week will not come out until Wednesday when the Cardinals return to practice.

[vertical-gallery id=426940]

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

[protected-iframe id=”7c5e8594ce7da58c26fdaf8b0a9bcd70-112738498-106269283″ info=”https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/20312310/download.mp3″ ]