Cardinals HC Bruce Arians announced Tuesday that LB Deone Bucannon underwent surgery on his ankle due to a “lingering” injury.
According to Arians, if everything goes well, Bucannon should be okay for the season opener. They’re hoping he can return at some point during September.
Ian Rapoport mentions that Bucannon is a candidate to be placed on the team’s PUP list.
Bucannon, 24, was taken with the No. 27 overall pick back in 2014. He’s currently in the final year of his four-year, $7,709,200 contract and stands to make a base salary of $981,673 for the 2017 season.
The Cardinals picked up Bucannon’s fifth-year option last month, which will run them $8,718,000 million for the 2018 season, but is guaranteed only for injury and won’t prevent them from working on a long-term extension over the next year.
In 2016, Bucannon appeared in 13 games and recorded 91 tackles, no interceptions, a fumble recovery and four pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 37 linebacker out of 87 qualifying players.
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