According to a source, Brown sustained a potentially season-ending injury in Arizona’s 19-9 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. Brown, who informed reporters on Sunday that X-rays on his foot came back negative, had more testing Monday to establish the extent of the damage and would seek a second opinion, according to Schefter. According to the source, the second opinion and his recovery will determine if he can return this season.
According to a release from the Cardinals, they acquired Anderson for unknown draft compensation. According to sources, the Panthers will receive sixth-round picks in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
Coach Kliff Kingsbury asserted that he thinks the acquisition of Anderson was directly related to Brown’s injury.
Kingsbury added, “Had the chance to grab a player that offers some pace and the dynamic Hollywood has. “So, we’ll sort of see where he fits in, and simply a long term, with players being hurt, we need some more wideouts in here,” said the coach.
Although Anderson and Brown are comparable, Kingsbury acknowledged Monday that he was unsure how the former Panthers wideout would fit into the Cardinals’ scheme. According to a source, Anderson has run vertical routes on 38% of his snaps since 2019. Brown has run them on 39% of his snaps. Since 2019, Brown has lined up wide 71% of the time, while Anderson has done so 72% of the time.
Their output was similar: Anderson and Brown averaged 11.46 air yards per target, while Brown had 25 more catches and 246 more receiving yards.
We need Anderson to be able to run, so Kingsbury said of him: “Just watching him over the years and analyzing his footage, he’s got a skill set that looks to be similar, and he can run, which we need that.”
A starter for the Cardinals wasn’t the only one to sustain a severe injury on Sunday. According to a source, left guard Justin Pugh will miss the remainder of the season due to a ruptured ACL in his right knee. After re-dealing the final year of his contract to stay for the 2022 season, Pugh started each of his five games this season. Pugh considered retiring following the season. They offered him the chance to play 10th time after being selected in the first round out of Syracuse. He fought to get back into football condition.
The Anderson deal was made a day after Anderson’s expulsion from a game by Panthers interim coach Steve Wilks due to disputes with his position coach on the sidelines. Kingsbury, though, asserted that Anderson’s altercation had no impact at all on the deal.
On Sunday, Anderson failed to make a catch. He had 13 receptions for 206 yards coming into the game, 75 of them on a touchdown catch against the Cleveland Browns in the first game.
The Panthers, who restructured Anderson’s deal in March, will incur a $20 million dead-cap charge this season and the following. The Cardinals will take on Anderson’s $575,000 salary for the remainder of the year.
Shawn Jefferson tutored Anderson while he was the Jets’ wide receivers’ coach. Their common past worked to the trade’s advantage.
Without a doubt, that had an impact, according to Kingsbury. “We felt pretty good about that connection and what it might be here just having that knowledge and the success he had with Coach Jefferson as his coach,” says the narrator.
Anderson will play for a Cardinals squad that lost on Sunday, dropping to 2-4. The team’s offense has struggled without star receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who will make his six-game comeback this week after being suspended for violating the NFL’s rules on performance-enhancing substances.
Without Brown on the field, Hopkins’ position will “slightly” shift starting on Thursday. According to Kingsbury, Hopkins will continue to be moved about and lined up in various places by the Cardinals.
Hopkins does not want to be on a snap count, but it hasn’t been ruled out. Hopkins hasn’t played since Week 14 of the previous season because of a knee injury.
We’ll monitor his condition, said Kingsbury. He was up today asking for the game plan and was eager to go, so I know he’s worried.
The Cardinals’ nine points on Sunday were equal for their second-lowest total under Kingsbury. The Cardinals have just once topped 400 yards in a game and have failed to score 30 points this year. After the loss on Sunday, quarterback Kyler Murray claimed that Arizona’s offense hadn’t been this terrible since his first season.
Kingsbury indicated on Monday that, to succeed, he would be open to altering who calls the offensive plays.
I’m willing to try everything that would help us win and get more points, you know,” he remarked. We’ll have to see how things will be in the end, but I support doing whatever it takes to succeed.
Matt Ammendola, a kicker with the Cardinals, was dismissed on Monday. He replaced Matt Prater, who had a hip ailment, in the last two games. Ammendola missed an extra point on Sunday after missing a game-tying field goal against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 5.
In Seattle, Kingsbury chose to attempt a field goal on fourth down three times rather than take the points, but the Cardinals could not make any of the three attempts. However, Kingsbury claimed on Monday that he still had trust in Ammendola.
More than anything else, Kingsbury added, “I believe it’s having trust in your offense.” “The opportunities we had offensively, I believed, were there and weren’t able to make them at the moment, but it was more than any lack of faith,” said Prater, who is considered one of the greatest in the NFL history.
“The agreement was a Prater one. We got the impression that he operates almost automatically, a nice luxury. It’s a little bit different when you don’t have it.
Kingsbury stated that the Cardinals would send kickers to try out on Monday and Tuesday, although it is unclear how Prater will do in Thursday night’s game against the Saints.