The Arizona Cardinals have a depleted wide receiver room, both due to injury and the Marvin Harrison Jr. trade with the Houston Texans. Unfortunately, Jalen Brooks is now out for the remainder of the season after having emergency surgery on a dislocated wrist, he announced on his personal Instagram account.
That's quietly a significant loss considering Brooks was having a career year and even emerged as the WR3 in this offense alongside Michael Wilson and Kendrick Bourne. Arizona's WR room is falling apart at midseason. That makes life even more difficult for quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who is behind what is also an injured Cardinals offensive line.
This already appears to be a lost season for the 2-5 Cardinals, who have an incredibly difficult November coming up with matchups against the Cowboys, Seahawks, Rams, and Chiefs. It's approaching time for the Cardinals to prioritize player development and evaluation, most notably making the switch from Brissett to third-round rookie Carson Beck at quarterback.
Reggie Virgil is the Cardinals' silver lining after Jalen Brooks' season-ending injury
But what's also a silver lining in their depleted WR room is that it provides an opportunity for fifth-round rookie Reggie Virgil to step up. The Texas Tech product only has two catches for 29 yards on the entire season so far. But he should have a much larger role in this offense going forward after the brutal injury to Brooks.
Virgil had an encouraging preseason, as did the majority of this incoming draft class for Arizona. In that four-game stretch, he totaled 12 receptions for 158 yards. Beck and Virgil appeared to have a connection in their lone preseason game played together, which could also be valuable should Mike LaFleur make the quarterback switch later in the season.
The Cardinals decided to keep seven receivers on their initial 53-man roster heading into the season. After the injury to Brooks and Harrison trade with the Texans, they're now suddenly down to five. This WR room has quickly turned from a perceived strength to a weakness, which is bad news for the Cardinals offense going forward.
Hopefully the silver lining that comes from it is Virgil's ascension in the second half of the season. With Simi Fehoko and Devin Duvernay largely special teams players, Virgil should have every opportunity to claim that WR3 role on this offense.
We were optimistic about Brooks' opportunity to break out, but now it's Virgil who needs to step up. If he's able to break out, it would give Arizona a long-term solution to help address what has become a shaky wide receiver room.
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