Hard-Hitting Cardinals Safety Carted Off in Week 1 Placed on Injured Reserve

The Cardinals will be without the hard-hitting safety for at least four games after he suffered an ankle injury in Sunday's win over Los Angeles.

Sep 13, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers running back Keaton Mitchell (34) is tackled by Arizona Cardinals safety Kitan Crawford (36) during the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals are set to lose safety Kitan Crawford for at least the next four weeks.

Crawford exited Week 1's win over the Los Angeles Chargers with an ankle sprain, and is now hitting injured reserve according to reports. His designation does come with a return possibility. He was carted off in the fourth quarter.

#AZCardinals S Kitan Crawford, who was carted off on Sunday, suffered a mid-ankle sprain and is headed to Injured Reserve/designated to return, sources say. pic.twitter.com/zfUsd8icgO

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 16, 2026

By hitting injured reserve, Crawford will be forced to miss at least the next four weeks, putting him on track to return for Week 6 at the earliest.

Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur is set to speak with reporters later this afternoon.

More on Kitan Crawford's Injury

Injuries have already hit the safety room hard, as Dadrion Taylor-Demerson was ruled out last week with a rib injury as well. Budda Baker, Andrew Wingard and Wydett Williams are left in the room.

Crawford, a solid backup and special teams contributor, made noise this training camp in Arizona — building off a strong rookie season.

The player affectionately known as "Bug" earned a reputation as a physical player.

"Bug is just a psycho," said Wingard earlier in training camp. "Like I'd be scared of Bug, and he's just violent. Violent, bad intentions, and sky's the limit for him. Sky's the limit for every guy in that secondary."

Baker added:

"Bug's doing a great job of understanding the defense. Like you said, second year in the defense. Just a lightning bolt out there. Very fast, very quick twitch. A guy who can get to the football, play all the coverages, and do what you want him to do on the football field," Baker said in preseason.

"So continue to work his mental. Continue to work his knowledge of the game, and the sky's the limit for Bug, whether that's defense or special teams. I always talk my little smack with him because my rookie year I was a special teamer All-Pro, so I was talking to him last year about what he had to do if he could get this much more tackles or make this many plays, and we have that competing factor as well. He's definitely a player that's on the up and up, and a player who's going to continue to get better and have lights out plays on game days."

Senior defensive coach Teryl Austin added:

"I think Bug has stood out. You watch his play temperament, it's fun."

Crawford's presence will be missed in the Cardinals' safety room and special teams, where he played 58% of snaps before leaving with the injury.

Arizona currently doesn't have any safeties on their practice squad.