Cardinals May Rely on Rookie DB Christian Matthew vs. Broncos
You never truly know when your number will be called, and that rings true for nearly everybody on the Arizona Cardinals' 53-man depth chart.
The Cardinals have been plagued with injuries from top to bottom, and now the secondary is the latest position group to have its depth tested.
Byron Murphy has been out since Week 10 with a back injury and wasn't spotted at the team's practice on Friday after and was a non-participant on the estimated two days of practice prior (Arizona held a closed walk-thru on Wed/Thu).
Antonio Hamilton was added to injury report on Thursday with a back injury of his own and was not spotted on Friday. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury deemed him day-to-day after meeting with reporters.
Marco Wilson, who left Monday night's loss to New England with a stinger, has been limited all week (Friday injury report pending).
Trayvon Mullen is no longer with the team after the Cardinals released him earlier this week.
It looks again as if Arizona wont be at full capacity on Sunday when the team travels to take on the Denver Broncos. Enter: Christian Matthew.
Drafted in the seventh round, Arizona's rookie corner has been a steady fixture on special teams but has rarely made it on the field defensively. His 11 snaps in last week's loss to the Patriots more than doubled his season total of five leading up to that point.
Matthew had one pass break-up while on the field vs. New England. Although young, those around him are excited to see what he could do in an expanded role.
"Yeah, he definitely [will] get a lot more work and then just kind of figure it out from there. But he's progressed a lot since training camp and I'm excited to see if he gets that opportunity to get a few more snaps [and] how he handles it," said Kingsbury on Friday.
The Cardinals partially were comfortable in releasing Mullen due to the progression of Matthew.
“Christian, he’s a guy that had the injury that set him back a little bit. We thought he was progressing nicely, but he’s coming on. He’s a long mature kid. He’s 25, 26 years old. He’s a little bit older and has handled his business well. Excited to see what he does the last four weeks," Kingsbury said.
"Christian has really come on whether it’s special teams or defense we like what we’re seeing from him.”
Matthew, a 6-foot-4 corner, brings a rare length to the cornerback position that defensive coordinators such as Vance Joseph covet.
Ready or not, Matthew will see a jump in snaps against a Broncos offense that hasn't impressed through the course of the season but still features weapons across the board.
"The Broncos had their best output last week, so that was obviously [as far as] timing, not good for us. Russell [Wilson} played well, I think Jeudy had three touchdowns. So that offense, in spite of what you see on ESPN each week, it's right," said Joseph on Thursday.
"The first/second down stuff's right. The third downs and red zone had been some struggles, but it's organized and guys are playing hard and Russell's Russell, he's making plays. Jerry Jeudy is a guy who's a top 15 pick who's a playmaker and Courtland Sutton, I drafted there. Second-round pick, he's a big guy who has been in Pro Bowls so it's not going to be easy. It's an NFL offense that has good players and a good scheme. So if we don't play well, it can get bad for us."
The health of Wilson remains to be seen ahead of Sunday. ESPN's Adam Schefter doesn't believe Wilson will clear concussion protocol before then, leaving Brett Rypien to handle duties.
It won't matter who's under center in Denver, so long as Matthew is prepared and ready to go. His coaches sure believe he will be.
We'll see if Matthew's 'welcome to the NFL' moment will come in the Mile High City.
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