Cardinals WR, Fighting For Roster Spot, Ruled Out With Injury vs Packers

The Arizona Cardinals have ruled out wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette for the remainder of action against the Green Bay Packers, according to AZCardinals.com's Darren Urban.

Smith-Marsette suffered an ankle injury in the third quarter of play and hobbled to the sideline before being ruled out. He caught two passes for 41 yards and manned return duties for the Cardinals tonight.

Names such as Simi Fehoko and Jalen Brooks — both of whom Smith-Marsette is competing with for a roster spot — are likely to see more time for the rest of action. The Cardinals have until Sunday at 3:00 PM AZ time to trim their roster down to 53.

Whether Smith-Marsette cracks that list remains to be determined. He was an early training camp breakout candidate, though Brooks' stellar play during preseason games saw Smith-Marsette take a slight step back.

He did not crack our final 53-man roster projection this week and was a dud for the first half of Cardinals vs Packers action.

Smith-Marsette is Arizona's second return man behind receiver Devin Duvernay, who did not dress tonight alongside 40 other Cardinals. Smith-Marsette' participation against the Packers clearly signals he's on the roster bubble.

There's going to be some extremely tough decisions made by the Cardinals within the next two days, Smith-Marsette being near the forefront of said conversations. Veteran wideout Kendrick Bourne says it's been the room's goal this camp.

"The greatest thing we've all been saying: we're making it hard on the coaches. That's all we can do. We don't want to have a group that's tearing each other down. I want to build people up. We want to build each other up to make plays, and I think that's what's been happening," Bourne said.

"You see it, it's a lot of encouragement going on. So when the ball's in the air, everybody's rooting for you. You can feel when you're being rooted for, and when you're being doubted. It's a different feel when the ball's in the air, and I think that's what we've been building as a group. Everybody's confident that they will make the play. That we're rooting for each other. I think that's important.

"So we got a strong room, man. We tell each other every day, like we're making it hard on them. It's going to be hard decisions, and that's just the nature of the game. But that's how we play the game is to make it as hard on cut day as possible for the coaches."

We'll see if Smith-Marsette's injury plays a factor into any decisions by Arizona. If he doesn't make the roster, he will be subject to waivers, where any of the other 31 teams can claim him. If he goes unclaimed, the Cardinals can bring him back to their practice squad.

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