The 2025 Cardinals were never known for having insane depth at the wide receiver position, as aside from Marvin Harrison Jr., the rest of the group is no more than average. Michael Wilson has been a solid No. 2 wide receiver this year, but the team has lacked that one-two punch for a while now.
To make matters worse for Arizona, it was revealed that Zay Jones tore his left Achilles tendon in the blowout loss on the road against the Seattle Seahawks. The injury occurred late in the second quarter when Jones was targeted in the end zone.
Jones, 30, is in his second season with the Cardinals, returning on a one-year deal worth $4.4 million. However, his tenure with the team has been incredibly bumpy. To start, Jones missed the first five games of 2024 due to his suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. He played in 11 games but only hauled in eight catches for 84 yards.
Fast forward to 2025: Jones is listed as the team’s No. 4 wide receiver, and was targeted only 18 times before his injury. On those targets, he recorded 12 catches for 183 yards. While he hasn’t produced much on the field, Jones has been a leader in a locker room that is filled with youth.
The Cardinals will need to rely on Greg Dortch as the team’s No. 3 wide receiver, behind Harrison and Wilson. We may also get the chance to see more action from second-year receiver Xavier Weaver, who went undrafted in 2024.
Losing a leader in the locker room like Zay Jones hurts, but as they say, it’s next man up. It will be interesting to see who takes the leap not just as a player on the field, but in the locker room as well. That’s a message that head coach Jonathan Gannon needs to send to his team.