With his absence, Max Garcia will presumably be Mason Cole’s backup at center.
The Arizona Cardinals add a player on Saturday to their final injury report but it isn’t due to an injury. They added offensive lineman Lamont Gaillard, ruling him out of Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, but it wasn’t injury-related.
The @AZCardinals added C Lamont Gaillard (not injury related) to the injury report as OUT for Sunday's game against the Eagles.
Both left the game in Week 1 with injuries and did not return to action. Cole hurt his hamstring, while Thompson has an ankle injury.
The Arizona Cardinals had two starters go down with injuries in their 24-20 Week 1 over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Starting safety Jalen Thompson injured his ankle on the second play of the game and starting center Mason Cole exited in the first half with a hamstring injury.
Neither player was able to return to the game. Thompson played only two snaps, while Cole played 36.
“Still working through it on those two guys, with Mason and J.T.,” he said. “Hopefully not too long, but we’ll see tomorrow where that is at.”
If they have to miss time and potentially the Cardinals’ Week 2 game at home against the Washington Football Team, Lamont Gaillard would get the start at center.
At safety, it would probably be Deionte Thompson who would get the start. Thompson was inactive on Sunday against the 49ers and Chris Banjo played 58 defensive snaps after Jalen Thompson exited the game. Kingsbury praised Banjo’s play. He is a backup at both safety positions and plays a lot on special teams. But he would likely slide back into that backup and special teams role if Jalen has to miss time.
The first injury report of the week won’t come out until Wednesday.
Gaillard wore No. 65 as a rookie. With Shipley signing elsewhere, Gaillard now gets to wear his old college number.
Arizona Cardinals second-year offensive lineman Lamont Gaillard has a new uniform number. He wore No. 65 last season as a rookie and began this offseason wearing it as well.
He now is wearing No. 53.
That number was worn previously by veteran A.Q. Shipley who was a free agent. While the team planned all offseason on having Mason Cole as the starting center, general manager Steve Keim and head coach Kliff Kingsbury never ruled out Shipley’s return. And if he was going to potentially return, his No. 53 was there for him.
However, now that he has signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there is no need to reserve the number.
Gaillard was seen wearing it in the team’s Red and White practice, as can been seen on the team’s television special airing some of the practice.
He wore No. 53 in college when he played at Georgia.
Gaillard is expected to make the team this year and to be the team’s backup center to Cole.
While they might develop, the situations ahead of them probably will limit their role next season.
Several of the Arizona Cardinals’ rookies in 2019 should have bigger roles in 2020. Others aren’t likely to. Here are the rookies whose roles likely won’t increase much in their second season.
S Deionte Thompson
Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
Thompson split time on the field with fellow rookie Jalen Thompson after D.J. Swearinger was cut. However, his playing time disappeared with the emergence of Jalen. With Budda Baker already a Pro Bowler and with the emergence of Jalen and the possibility of the team adding a veteran at the position, Deionte probably won’t be more than a special teamer in 2020 unless there is an injury or he makes huge strides.
