Justin Pugh continues to have lousy injury luck. The well-paid free agent addition will head to IR because of a knee injury he sustained in Week 10.
The former first-round Giants pick has not played a full season since his 2013 rookie year.
For the Cardinals, it’s more of the same on a front that’s been battered by setbacks in recent seasons. This year, Arizona already lost center A.Q. Shipley for the season before it started and was without Mike Iupati in Week 10.
Pugh signed a five-year, $45MM deal to trek to Arizona. He’s tethered to the Cardinals’ roster for a while. This will be the second straight season in which he’ll spend at least eight games out because of injury. A back problem ended his final Giants campaign after eight games in 2017. Pugh played just 11 games in 2016.
Ten offensive linemen are still on Arizona’s roster, however, and some less experienced players will be called to action. This isn’t new for the Cards, though.
Last season, they saw Iupati and tackles D.J. Humphries and Jared Veldheer go down, damaging their ground attack during a season that featured rampant trouble with quarterback health. This year isn’t going nearly as well on the field, with the Cards at 2-7. The team’s issues unleashing David Johnson may well continue after the Pugh news.
I like Pugh, but this is probably one of the better moves the Giants made by not resigning him.