Arizona Cardinals DL Corey Peters Out for Season

And then the injuries began…and when it rains, it pours here in the desert

With the Arizona Cardinals already losing starting guard Mike Iupati to a knee injury earlier this week, now defensive lineman Corey Peters has been ruled out for the 2015 campaign with a torn Achilles. Peters previously tore his Achilles with the Atlanta Falcons is on the first year of a three year, $10.6 million dollar contract.

Rookie Rodney Gunter will take Peters spot in the starting lineup. This is interesting because the drafting of Gunter by GM Steve Keim was viewed as an intriguing proposition on someone with a lot of talent, but may not click completely, or for a few years on a team that needs to show a dramatic improvement in the pass rush.

The team has weathered through injuries on both sides of the ball, last year going 9-1 before the loss of so much talent finally imploded in on the team who was on a fourth string QB and a patchwork defense that played lights out but couldn’t hold the team up with the offensive deficiencies.

So what do the Cardinals do from here? Mike Jurecki also notes that once the Cardinals place Peters on IR, they’ll have two roster spots open. One has to figure they’ll pick up someone for both lines, and former Colt Dwight Freeney has been name dropped here and there as a possible, veteran replacement. Knowing Arians and Keim’s ability to work with “prove-it” veterans on one-year deals. Will that happen in this case? It’s really unknown, if the rookies or even undrafted guys can make enough of a splash to secure a spot, that’s great and that’s how I see this being handled.

The other option is wait it out through camp as cuts start to come down, the Cardinals will run into this problem as well, with so much depth, one or two guys who are, at best, starters, at worst, great backups, will hit the street, not just from this team, but 31 others as well. The waiver wire will be busy, and I believe the Cardinals will be as well.