The Arizona Cardinals have one preseason game left — Friday night at Green Bay — then they must get to 53 players by 6 p.m. ET Sunday. That is not a rumor. That is the league deadline, two days earlier than past years, as Cards Wire reported in May.
First-year head coach Mike LaFleur and GM Monti Ossenfort are staring at the same problem every late-August staff faces: injuries ate practice time, a few veterans still look like insurance policies, and several young players forced the issue on special teams. This projection is an aggregation of reporting from ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss, local beat pieces, and official transactions — not an original scoop. Nothing here is locked until Sunday.
Quarterbacks: Three names, one rib cage
Projected: Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew II, Carson Beck.
Beck, the third-round pick out of Miami, ripped the Hall of Fame Game (15-of-19, 188 yards, a touchdown) then felt the rib he hurt on a scramble. He sat the next two exhibitions. LaFleur has called him a tough dude who pushed through three or four practices before the staff shut him down. You get better by practicing, the coach said. When you are not out there, you do not. That quote circulated after the Cowboys game via beat coverage and a clip posted by PHNX’s Bo Brack
"He battled through it for 3 or 4 practices before it became so the discomfort became so real that it just wasn't worth it."
Arizona Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur says Carson Beck is a "tough dude" but is still battling a lingering rib issue pic.twitter.com/s7jV6hYBFX
— Bo Brack (@BoBrack) August 24, 2026
Minshew is the clean insurance policy if Brissett goes down. Cutting him would free a spot, but it would also force Beck into the No. 2 role before he has a full camp. Most projections, including Weinfuss’s Aug. 24 piece, keep all three because a practice-squad stash on a drafted quarterback does not last an hour.
Running backs: Four, with Conner still a question
Projected: Jeremiyah Love, Tyler Allgeier, James Conner, Bam Knight.
Trey Benson is already gone. The club waived him with an injury designation Aug. 24, the same day it activated Josh Sweat off the PUP list, per the team’s transaction log on azcardinals.com and Pro Football Rumors.
Conner did not take 11-on-11 snaps in camp because of his foot. Knight, who played for LaFleur in New York, has been the easy evaluation. The coach has said backs are hard to judge in practice — except Knight. That is why four stay in most models even if it looks crowded.
Receivers and the rest of the offense
Weinfuss framed the biggest call as six receivers or seven. The locks are Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson, Kendrick Bourne and Devin Duvernay. Simi Fehoko’s downfield pops against Dallas and special-teams value push him ahead of Ihmir Smith-Marsette in several six-man lists. Reggie Virgil’s coverage units keep him alive. That is analysis, not a team announcement.
Tight end is cleaner with Tip Reiman still on PUP: Trey McBride, Elijah Higgins, Teagan Quitoriano. The line projects nine after Chase Bisontis’s season-ending knee. Paris Johnson Jr., Isaac Seumalo, Hjalte Froholdt, Isaiah Adams, Elijah Wilkinson, Jon Gaines II, Josh Fryar, Hayden Conner and Jayden Williams. Matt Pryor is the common odd-man-out in local projections even after a long career as a swing tackle.
| Position | Projected count | Bubble / recent move |
|---|---|---|
| QB | 3 | Beck ribs; Minshew trade talk unconfirmed |
| RB | 4 | Benson waived Aug. 24 |
| WR | 6 | Fehoko vs. Smith-Marsette |
| TE | 3 | Reiman PUP |
| OL | 9 | Bisontis IR; Pryor on the bubble |
| DL | 6 | Stills/Collier both kept in this model |
| EDGE | 5 | Sweat activated Aug. 24 |
| ILB | 4 | Sharar special teams edge |
| CB | 6 | Williams off PUP |
| S | 4 | Crawford camp riser |
| ST | 3 | Ryland despite one long miss |
Defense: Sweat is back, bodies still matter
Projected front: Darius Robinson, Walter Nolen III, Roy Lopez, Andrew Billings, Dante Stills, L.J. Collier. Edge: Sweat, Zaven Collins, Baron Browning, Jordan Burch, Eku Leota. Inside: Mack Wilson Sr., Cody Simon, Jack Gibbens, Karson Sharar.
LaFleur said it was great to have Sweat on the field and that the timing matched the plan. BJ Ojulari is the name most projections drop to make room. Sharar’s special-teams instincts — he has talked about playing that way since second grade — beat Owen Pappoe in this version of the 53.
Secondary: Will Johnson, Garrett Williams (activated from PUP Aug. 20), Denzel Burke, Max Melton, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Elijah Jones. Safeties: Budda Baker, Andrew Wingard, Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, Kitan Crawford. LaFleur called Crawford the epitome of play style and said the player is ascending, remarks first detailed in mid-camp coverage by Sports Illustrated’s Cardinals site.
Specialists stay Chad Ryland, Blake Gillikin, Casey Kreiter. One missed long kick does not dump a kicker in August.
Friday at Lambeau is the last live tape. Sunday is the cut. If Conner’s foot or Beck’s ribs change the math, the 53 on paper here will look different by Monday. That is how cut week works.
