Cardinals Place WR Marquise Brown & G Justin Pugh On IR, Make Three Other Moves

The Arizona Cardinals announced that they have placed G Justin Pugh and WR Marquise Brown on injured reserve. Arizona also activated OL Cody Ford from injured reserve and elevated K Rodrigo Blankenship and RB Corey Clements from the practice squad, per Darren Urban of the team’s official site. 

Earlier this week, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that Brown suffered a small, non-surgical fracture that could cost him around six weeks or so. 

Pugh, meanwhile, sustained a season-ending torn ACL and was expected to land on the injured reserve. 

Brown, 25, is a former first-round pick of the Ravens out of Oklahoma back in 2019. He was traded to the Cardinals during the 2022 draft.

Brown was entering the final year of his four-year, $11.8 million rookie contract when the Cardinals picked up his fifth-year option for the 2023 season worth $12,909,000 fully guaranteed.

In 2022, Brown appeared in six games for the Cardinals and caught 43 passes on 63 targets for 485 yards receiving and three touchdowns.

Pugh, 32, is a former first-round pick of the Giants back in 2013. He played out the final year of his four-year, $8.346 million contract and made a base salary of $1,157,307 for the 2016 season when the Giants elected to pick up Pugh’s fifth-year option.

Pugh later signed a five-year contract worth over $45 million with the Cardinals in 2018. He had one more year left on that deal with a base salary of $8.025 million but agreed to a $4.25 million pay cut last year.

Pugh will be an unrestricted free agent in 2023. 

In 2022, Pugh has appeared in five games for the Cardinals and made five starts at guard.