Arizona Cardinals RB Andre Ellington ‘ready to roll’, set to make return

A quarter of the way through the 2015 NFL season and the Arizona Cardinals are healthy, finally.

Their full complement of offensive weapons will all be available here in Week 5 at Detroit; and that includes running back Andre Ellington.

“He’s ready to roll,” head coach Bruce Arians said Friday.

Ellington has missed the past three weeks with a sprained right knee.  He suffered the injury late in the season opener against New Orleans.  Before exiting in the fourth quarter, the third-year back had rushed 12 times for 69 yards and a touchdown.

With Ellington’s return, the Cardinals are at full strength.

“It’s a first for me that we’ll have seven healthy scratches in October for a game, so we got everybody ready to go,” Arians said, and then added, “Tough decisions as far as who goes sits and who stays up, but everybody is healthy and ready to play the game.”

Here are the inactives: quarterback Matt Barkley, wide receiver J.J. Nelson, linebacker Shaq Riddick, linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, guard Ted Larsen, tackle D.J. Humphries and nose tackle Xavier Williams.

Nelson has been bothered by a shoulder injury after getting hurt at Chicago.

“He’s been making really good progress; and catching (the ball) well again, now,” Arians said, referring to Nelson who was listed as questionable after being limited in practice both Thursday and Friday.

Weatherspoon’s inclusion among the inactives is not a surprise considering his spot on the depth chart, behind both Kevin Minter and Deone Bucannon.

Weatherspoon dressed last week but did not see any action.

For the Lions, running back Joique Bell (ankle), tight end Eric Ebron (knee) and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata (calf) have all been ruled out because of injury.

“Looking forward to the challenge,” Arians said.  “We need to scratch one out on the road and this is the next one, so it’s the one we need to get.”

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