Arizona Cardinals need Deone Bucannon

The fifth year linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals found an injury hopefully not too serious

So far through the first week of training camp for the Arizona Cardinals, it for the most part has been injury free, at least from a major injury standpoint.  It’s a big deal considering a whopping 10 players in the NFL have already torn their ACL’s.

For linebacker Deone Bucannon, it seems he may have avoided a major injury, although that will still be slightly in doubt on Friday.  Bucannon hyper-extended his knee on Thursday and was held out of practice on Friday.

According to arizonasports.com, head coach Steve Wilks didn’t think he would miss much time but was held out of Friday’s practice as a precaution.  He was scheduled for an MRI.

Anytime you hear the words injury, especially when MRI follows, you tend to hold your breath.  Bucannon hasn’t gone injury free over his first four seasons, however has played in the majority of the team’s games over that period.

He played in just 12 games last year and 13 in 2016 but played in all 16 games his first two seasons in the desert.  As a veteran in the middle of the defense, his leadership and abilities will be needed.

The defense is young in spots.  Bucannon can sit for the majority of the preseason and I don’t think many fans would argue.  It would be great though if he could practice to be in complete football shape once September 9th arrives.

Last year, despite playing in just 12 of the team’s 16 games, he still managed to amass 82 tackles.  He also had one sack and one interception to go with those tackles.

Although Wilks doesn’t believe anything major happened to Bucannon, the MRI will tell the story.  We’ve had high hope for a positive outcome in the past on MRI’s and left disappointed.

The team next practices on Saturday afternoon.  They will be holding their annual Red-White practice at University of Phoenix Stadium.