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A remarkable seven Arizona Cardinals players have officially been ruled out of their Week 11 game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon had already ruled out wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (appendicitis) and linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. (ribs) earlier in the week. And guard Hayden Conner (knee) is still in his three-week practice window to return from injured reserve and was not expected to return this week.
The other four players who were ruled out in the official injury report, though, are all notable names: Cornerback Will Johnson (back/hip), right tackle Jonah Williams (shoulder), edge rusher Baron Browning (concussion) and safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson (ankle).
This is now the second straight game that Johnson has missed with his injury, which Gannon previously described as a contusion. The rookie corner has impressed when on the field but has missed four of 10 games.
Then there’s the running back situation. The Cardinals did not open Trey Benson’s window to return to practice this week, meaning he will miss his sixth consecutive game with a knee injury.
Bam Knight, who exited the Cardinals’ Week 10 loss with an ankle injury, is officially questionable. He was a limited participant in all three practices this week. Typically, that’s a sign that a player will be active on gameday, barring unusual circumstances — such as a player returning from a prolonged absence (like BJ Ojulari) or Kyler Murray’s bizarre foot situation.
“You’ll see today at 3 o’clock,” Gannon said on the morning of Nov. 14 when asked about Knight, referring to the release of the official injury report. He later added that Knight is “doing well.”
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The other running backs on the active roster are Emari Demercado and Michael Carter, who was added back to the active roster on Saturday, Nov. 8, after being demoted to the practice squad a week earlier.
The Cardinals typically use Demercado in receiving situations, with another back taking the primary early-down work. After Benson suffered his injury in Week 4, the Cardinals initially turned to Carter in that lead role, before giving Knight the majority of the work in recent weeks. Knight will presumably retain that role if active, with Carter seeing an uptick in workload if Knight is out.
Meanwhile, on the offensive line, Williams will be replaced by veteran Kelvin Beachum — if Beachum is healthy himself. Beachum is questionable after being limited in practice this week by a groin injury. Right guard Will Hernandez is also questionable after being limited in all three practices with a knee injury. Hernandez, though, had the same status last week and played every meaningful snap.
On the defensive line, both Walter Nolen (knee) and Darius Robinson (groin) carry questionable tags. They, too, practiced in a limited fashion all week.
Then there’s Ojulari, who is in month 16 of recovering from a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus. He is also questionable — the first time that he has not been officially ruled out in the Cardinals’ final injury report of the week. If he plays against the 49ers, it would be his first action since the 2023 season.
“He’s doing a really good job,” Gannon said. “He broke the team down yesterday, and the team was juiced up. It goes to show you, they know how long of a road that was for him. Football players want to play football. When you can’t play football, there’s no way to say it doesn’t suck. It’s hard.”
