27 days till the Cardinals’ season opener against the Bills

CB Divaad Wilson is the current No. 27. A couple of players in recent history to make some impact with No. 27 were CB Kevin Peterson and S Tyvon Branch.

We start a new week and it is the middle of the preseason. The Arizona Cardinals will travel to Indianapolis to hold a pair of joint practices with the Colts before their preseason contest on Saturday.

We are now 27 days away from their regular-season opener on September 8 against the Buffalo Bills.

No. 27 on the roster is now cornerback Divaad Wilson, who played a couple of games last season as an undrafted rookie. he has not yet been an impact player and is a longshot to make the roster this year.

No. 27 has not been a super impactful number for the Cardinals. A decent player who wore it from 2019-2021 was cornerback Kevin Peterson.

In three seasons, he played in 30 games, starting six.

In 2019, he played a career-high 254 defensive snaps.

Before Peterson, you have to go back to 2016-2017 when Tyvon Branch wore No. 27. He was a solid player. His injury in 2017 opened the door for Budda Baker to crack the starting lineup and become the player he is now.

The countdown will continue tomorrow.

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Cardinals protect 3 on practice squad for playoff game vs. Rams

They protected Bashaud Breeland, Kevin Peterson and Tavien Feaster on Tuesday.

The Arizona Cardinals will begin practicing on Thursday in preparation for their first-round playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams. On Tuesday, they took care of a procedural matter for the practice squad.

Teams are able to protect up to four players from being signed by another team. According to the league transaction report from Tuesday, the Cardinals, at least so far, have elected to protect only three.

They protected cornerbacks Bashaud Breeland and Kevin Peterson and also running back Tavien Feaster.

The three protections make sense. Peterson has been starting with cornerbacks Robert Alford and Marco Wilson injured. While Wilson is likely going to be able to play at least some, protecting both Peterson and Breeland, signed last week to the practice squad, makes sense.

The protection of Feaster suggests that the Cardinals are unsure of the status of running backs Chase Edmonds and James Conner. Edmonds missed the game with rib and toe injuries, while Conner injured his ribs in the second half of the team’s 38-30 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

It is possible we will see another protected decided on Wednesday, as they can do so because they don’t play until Monday night.

But as we get practice reports for injuries, we need to watch Wilson, Conner and Edmonds.

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CB Bashaud Breeland is among 4 Cardinals’ protected practice squad players in Week 18

Preparing for their Week 18 game against the Seahawks, the Cardinals protected Bashaud Breeland, Kevin Peterson, Danny Isidora and Tahir Whitehead.

The Arizona Cardinals were expected to sign veteran cornerback Bashaud Breeland to their practice squad a week ago after rookie corner Marco Wilson suffered a shoulder injury. He contracted COVID-19 so that signing did not happen until Tuesday.

Now on the practice squad, the Cardinals included him among the four practice squad players they protected from being signed by any other team.

They once again included two cornerbacks. Here are their four protected players, according to the NFL transaction report on Tuesday.

  • CB Bashaud Breeland
  • G Danny Isidora
  • CB Kevin Peterson
  • LB Tahir Whitehead

Peterson has had to play on defense the last two weeks for the Cardinals. Whitehead is likely protected because Tanner Vallejo, who came back from injured reserve last week, was placed on the COVID list on Tuesday. Whitehead has been elevated to play special teams this season.

Isidora is protected, likely because the Cardinals don’t want to lose him. They don’t seem to have any injuries on the offensive line.

Breeland probably won’t get elevated this week to play but he could be for the playoffs.

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Cardinals protect 4 on practice squad, including 2 CBs, in Week 17

This week’s practice squad protections are OL Danny Isidora, CB Kevin Peterson, CB Jace Whittaker and P Ryan Winslow. Winslow has since been released.

The Arizona Cardinals have protected four players from their practice squad from being signed by other teams. One of them is no longer on the practice squad.

According to Tuesday’s NFL transaction report, the Cardinals protected the following players on the practice squad:

  • G Danny Isidora
  • CB Kevin Peterson
  • CB Jace Whittaker
  • P Ryan Winslow

All make sense. However, Winslow has since been released because Andy Lee, who was on the COVID list and missed the game against the Indianapolis Colts, was activated on Wednesday. So the protection of Winslow ends up being wasted.

Backup guard Sean Harlow was placed on the COVID list, so Isidora being protected is logical, especially if they need a lineman elevated if there are further injuries.

Peterson and Whittaker could both see action on Sunday. Rookie cornerback Marco Wilson injured his shoulder on Saturday against the Colts and Peterson, who was elevated to the active roster for the game, finished the game. Byron Murphy and Antonio Hamilton are the only two healthy cornerbacks on the active roster.

As things stand, both Peterson and Whittaker probably would be elevated for Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, as Peterson could start in place of Wilson and Whittaker would be needed on special teams because Hamilton and Peterson would be playing significant snaps on defense.

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Cardinals protect four on practice squad for Week 13, including 2 CBs

With this week’s practice squad protections, it makes us wonder if there is an injury in the cornerback room for the Cardinals.

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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Titans place Dzubnar, McNichols on COVID-19 list among 3 roster moves

The Titans now have three players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.

On the same day the Tennessee Titans needed to trim their roster down to a maximum of 80 players, the team announced a trio of roster moves.

Among them was the placement of linebacker Nick Dzubnar and running back Jeremy McNichols on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. In addition, Tennessee also waived defensive back Kevin Peterson.

Dzubnar was added to the roster just last week after going unsigned and made his preseason debut on Saturday night versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He spent the 2020 campaign with the Titans.

The Titans now have three players on the COVID-19 list. Defensive lineman Anthony Rush was added to it on Monday, one day after head coach Mike Vrabel revealed he had tested positive for the virus on Sunday.

The Titans have one more preseason contest coming up against the Chicago Bears at Nissan Stadium on Saturday night. The following Tuesday will be the final roster cutdown day.

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Titans sign CB Kevin Peterson after tryout, waive LB Justus Reed

Peterson will join a crowded cornerbacks room as the Titans prepare for training camp next month.

The Tennessee Titans made a pair of roster moves on Thursday following the conclusion of minicamp, with the team signing cornerback Kevin Peterson and waiving linebacker Justus Reed.

Peterson was one of two minicamp invites we’re aware of, and apparently did enough to earn a shot with Tennessee. The other, former Saint Louis college basketball player turned tight end, Hasahn French, wasn’t as fortunate.

To make room for Peterson, the Titans waived Reed, who was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Virginia Tech following the 2021 NFL draft.

Peterson went undrafted after playing his college ball at Oklahoma State and has spent time with the Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals during his career, appearing in 32 games (five starts).

In 2020 he played in 12 games for the Cardinals, tallying six combined tackles, one pass defensed and one fumble recovered. He has two career interceptions, both of which came with the Rams in 2017.

The Titans have a crowded cornerbacks room going into training camp, so it’ll be an uphill climb for Peterson to make the cut on the 53-man roster.

Tennessee will begin its training camp late next month, with players expected to report to Saint Thomas Sports Park for the start of it on July 27.

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Cardinals free agent outlook: CB Kevin Peterson

A look back at Kevin Peterson’s time with the Arizona Cardinals and whether he will return in free agency in 2021.

One of the Arizona Cardinals’ many free agents this offseason is cornerback Kevin Peterson. Will he be back in 2021?

Peterson played his second season for the Cardinals in 2020. He was acquired before the 2019 season on a waiver claim after he was cut by the Los Angeles Rams.

Peterson’s role was much different in 2020. He got extensive playing time in 2019 but was relegated to almost exclusively special teams last season.

He played in 12 games and started once — against the Miami Dolphins when Dre Kirkpatrick was hurt and Byron Murphy was out with COVID. He suffered a concussion in that game that landed him on injured reserve. He would come back at the end of the season.

In all, he played 66 defensive snaps in 2020. He had six tackles and a pass breakup. The Cardinals credited him with five special teams tackles and a fumble recovery.

But now that he is a free agent, he is not likely in their plans moving forward. And while he played special teams, he was not part of the core group, as he played only 31% of the team’s special teams snaps.

They had two seasons to give him a look and by the end, he wasn’t part of their defensive plans.

He likely will end up elsewhere.

Peterson’s 2021 return: unlikely

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Cardinals sign CB Johnathan Joseph; activate CB Byron Murphy, LB Devon Kennard

The Cardinals make a number of roster moves on Wednesdays.

The Arizona Cardinals announced a flurry of roster moves on Wednesday morning, ahead of their returning to practice to start Week 10.

They added a player, get back a pair of others and deal with some injuries.


Dolphins WR Preston Williams carted off; Cardinals CB Kevin Peterson leaves game

Arizona is down another cornerback in Week 9.

The Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins have had players exit the game with injuries in the first half of their Week 9 matchup.

Dolphins receiver Preston Williams, who had four catches for 60 yards and a touchdown in the half, apparently injured his foot on the scoring play.

He had to be carted off the field. It was announced in the press box it was a foot injury and he is questionable to return.

The Cardinals suffered another loss at cornerback. Kevin Peterson, playing in place of both Dre Kirkpatrick, who is injured, and Byron Murphy, who contracted COVID-19, also exited the game.

He was picked on during the drive that Williams scored and was twice flagged for pass interference. On the second play, he hit the ground hard. He left the game to be evaluated for a concussion and it was announced his return is questionable.

Update:

Both Williams and Peterson have been ruled out for the rest of the game.

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