DeAndre Hopkins Returns to Practice; Kyler Murray Hopeful to Play Sunday
The Arizona Cardinals lined up to stretch Wednesday morning when wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins came jogging out.
He grabbed his helmet and found his spot on the line, jumping right in.
Wednesday was his first time at practice since Week 7 ahead of Arizona's matchup with the Houston Texans. He has dealt with a hamstring injury since then.
Hopkins was not running routes during drills at 100% speed, but head coach Kliff Kingsbury will see where he is at Thursday when the team practices with pads on.
Hopkins' hands looked OK, too:
He has missed three games, the most in his career.
Notes
Kyler Murray
Murray has also missed the last three games, but he was practicing in limited capacity ahead of two of them.
He was back on the field Wednesday morning doing what he did previously during the open parts of practice: working through drills.
"Practiced today, the first couple of live reps felt like I had been doing it the past three, four weeks," Murray said.
He was questionable for Arizona's most recent action in Seattle before the bye week, but was held out.
He said he is hopeful to return this week.
Murray and Hopkins were both limited in practice Wednesday, according to Kingsbury.
"We want to make sure they feel good and kind of ease them back into the week," Kingsbury said. "Tomorrow, we'll have pads on. Hopefully they can do a little bit more."
J.J. Watt
Watt is still on injured reserve after shoulder surgery, but on Wednesday, he was on the side doing sprints as his teammates practiced.
Initial reports indicated that Watt was likely done for the season, but the Cardinals have never counted him out.
"You can't count him out, he's a machine," Kingsbury said. "He's been working like crazy. I'm never up here when he's not up here and doing some sort of rehab."
Aaron Brewer
Cardinals long snapper Aaron Brewer broke his forearm in San Francisco in Week 9 and went on reserve/injured.
He, like Watt, was on the field working on snaps and some movement on the side.
Brewer is not eligible to be activated until after this Sunday.
Kingsbury said he is hoping to have the long snapper back by Arizona's following matchup against the Los Angeles Rams.
Who else was there?
Nose tackle Rashard Lawrence was designated to return from reserve/injured earlier this week, and he was participating in practice.
He suffered a calf injury earlier this season, returned to practice and then suffered a setback that landed him on IR.
He has played in only six games this year.
Left guard Justin Pugh was out and about during the open part of practice, but was not participating.
He suffered a calf injury in San Francisco and has not played since.
Kingsbury said he will be a game-day decision Sunday.
Max Garcia (Achilles), though, was practicing. He played in Seattle, but not the whole game.
Kingsbury-Oklahoma
Kingsbury did not want to talk about the reports of Oklahoma's interest in him as head coach. But linebacker Isaiah Simmons spoke on it Wednesday.
"I actually went up to him this Monday," Simmons said. "I looked at him, I'm like, 'Me and you are in this for the long haul, so I hope you're not going nowhere.'"
Simmons said he wants what's best for Kingsbury, but noted that based on what his head coach said about the ordeal, he doesn't see him going anywhere.
Murray shared that sentiment.
"I know Kliff," Murray said. "I don't really buy into it. I think he's got a pretty good job right now."
