It does not look like Deone Bucannon will be returning as soon as the Cardinals hoped. The fourth-year linebacker re-aggravated the ankle injury that’s defined his offseason, Bruce Arians said Monday (via Mike Jurecki of ArizonaSports.com, on Twitter).
Arians said the linebacker sprained his ankle on his first day back at practice, which came early last week. The fifth-year Cardinals coach added (via Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com, on Twitter) Bucannon has “no chance” to play Sunday in Arizona’s opener.
Bucannon was on track to be ready by Sunday prior to the setback, Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic tweets, and Arians noted this could be a multi-game absence. The Cardinals have Karlos Dansby and first-rounder Haason Reddick in place now that Bucannon is out. Philip Wheeler and Josh Bynes are also in the mix as new additions.
The only member of Arizona’s 2016 inside-linebacking corps set to return this season, Bucannon underwent ankle surgery in May and missed almost all of the Cards’ offseason work. He finished with 89 tackles last season in 13 games.