Arizona Cardinals: What the loss of T.J. Logan means to team
By Tyler Olson
T.J. Logan’s rookie season will be put on hold while he recovers from wrist surgery, and now’s the time for other members of the Arizona Cardinals step up.
The beginning of any season is filled with optimism and hope. Unfortunately for so many players, it comes to a screeching halt in training camp and the preseason. Arizona Cardinals rookie running back T.J. Logan isn’t an exception after injuring his wrist against the Dallas Cowboys last Thursday in the Hall of Fame Game.
There’s no set recovery time for Logan’s return. The dislocated wrist is forcing Arizona to put him on injured reserve with a designation to return in Week 8.
Cardinals beat writer Darren Urban reported that, depending on circumstances, he may not return at all this season. That’ll be a huge blow for a Cardinals squad that foresaw Logan handling kick and punt returning duties in 2017.
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Realistically, Logan fully expected to be involved on the offense this season as well. After all, he proved his versatility throughout his time with the North Carolina Tar Heels as he had over 800 yards and 10 touchdowns from scrimmage in 2016. However, with every NFL organization comes injuries and with injuries comes the next man up mentality.
David Johnson is the clear-cut starter at running back. In a perfect world Johnson would handle kickoff duties as well but he’s much to valuable to risk an injury. Behind Johnson will be a fight between Kerwynn Williams and veteran Chris Johnson. Andre Ellington, who was reportedly to make the move to wide receiver this season, but carried the ball against Dallas, looks to benefit the most from Logan’s injury.
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Same goes for the special teams. According to Kyle Odegard of the team’s official website, Williams is the next man up on special teams. Behind him, rookies Chad Williams and Rudy Ford could get some work as well. The true pecking order will be determined in the coming weeks as the Cardinals wrap up training camp and face both the Oakland Raiders and Chicago Bears in Weeks 2 and 3 of the preseason.