Why Cardinals Placed Marquise Brown on Injured Reserve

Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon was torn to make the tough decision.

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals will no longer have the talents of Marquise Brown on their team - at least for the rest of 2023.

The pending free agent will be heading to injured reserve with a heel injury that's nagged him for weeks, according to head coach Jonathan Gannon. 

Brown hadn't practiced at all entering Friday as the Cardinals prepare to take on the Philadelphia Eagles. 

"Best thing for him, best thing for us, so we're gonna put him on IR," Gannon told reporters, who said the team was in communication with Brown before making the decision to end his season.

"Every day. Every day with him. We'll always talk to the players first. The players know. The guys in that locker room know that we have their best interest at heart. If they show us that they're team-first - which he has all year - we will always do what's best for the player first and then the team. He's been awesome with that. He's communicated extremely well," said Gannon. 

Brown had played in all but last week's loss to Chicago, though he's been on the team's injury report with various ailments throughout the year:

Weeks 13/14/15/16/17: Heel injury

Week 6: Illness

Week 4: Thumb

Week 1: Hamstring 

"He tried, man, I love him for it. He's really [for the] last better part of a month here has been kind of grinding through an injury. You know, he's a Ferrari out there and you're putting unleaded in him. He needs premium. So that's kind of the analogy I used with him when I talked to him," Gannon said.

"But he's got a foot issue. He's tried, it's not for that lack of [effort] - he's in there till the wee hours, up here earlier than a lot of people get in here getting treatment and things like that. He wants to play, he just can't go."

Brown caught 51 of his 101 targets for 574 yards and four touchdowns.

"He needs a couple of weeks off here. ... I think he'll be back and he'll be healthier than ever and be a better player moving into next year," said Gannon.