Injuries Continue to Plague Cardinals Offense Heading Into Season Finale

The Arizona Cardinals look to be without an overwhelming amount of starters in their Week 18 season finale against the San Francisco 49ers.

With the 2022 season coming to a close, the Arizona Cardinals may very well be without an overwhelming majority of their typical offensive starters/weapons when they play the San Francisco 49ers in Week 18.

Nine of the Cardinals' 11 offensive starters may miss the season finale.

* QB Kyler Murray
* WR DeAndre Hopkins
* WR Hollywood Brown
* WR Rondale Moore
* LT D.J. Humphries
* LG Justin Pugh
* C Rodney Hudson
* TE Zach Ertz
* RB James Conner

— Kyle Odegard (@Kyle_Odegard) January 4, 2023

Several of these players, including Murray, Moore, Ertz, Humphries, Pugh and Hudson are currently on injured reserve. 

When it comes to Hudson, the future is unknown. 

"We'll see, that's something we got to discuss after. Obviously, tough for Rodney dealing with the knee all year and we hated that we weren't able to use him more. We saw what he could do last year and when he was healthy and so we'll discuss that after the season," Kingsbury said.

While Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters Conner could be considered day-to-day, he said Hopkins is done for the year. 

"No, he won't be up this week. He'll be down," Kingsbury said. 

When asked if Hopkins would play if the Cardinals were in contention for a playoff spot, Kingsbury responded with, "I'd say it'd be close. It's definitely something that's been nagging him - his knee injury - and so we're just going to be cautious this last one."

Hopkins, who missed the first six games of the year due to a suspension for PED use, recorded 64 receptions for 717-yards and three touchdowns in nine games. His return was massive for the offense, who lacked a go-to playmaker upon his return.

Brown was previously placed on injured reserve mid-season before being activated back in November. With just one week left in the year, he has 66 receptions for 702-yards and three touchdowns. 

Kingsbury said he would be fine and is expected to play against San Francisco. 

Conner came on late in the season including a six-game streak of scoring at least one touchdown from Weeks 10-16. 

Should he miss Week 18, Conner ends 2022 with 782 rushing yards and 300 receiving yards to go along with eight total touchdowns. He was described as day-to-day by Kingsbury and did not do much in the team's closed walk-thru. 

The first injury report of the week will be released later today, and we'll get a better idea of who might be available as Arizona concludes the regular season. 

Follow All Cardinals on Facebook

Subscribe to All Cardinals on YouTube

Arizona Cardinals Top Stories

Kyler Murray Posts Vibrant Message After ACL Surgery

David Blough Will Start vs. 49ers

Cardinals Confirm Kyler Murray Underwent Successful ACL Surgery

Will Anderson: Perfect fit for Cardinals?

2023 NFL Mock Draft: Will Levis Shakes the Board