Cardinals notebook: Roster cuts a necessary evil for Kliff Kingsbury

TEMPE — Roster cuts are part of the job in the NFL.

But that doesn’t make them any easier for head coaches. Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury can tell you as much.

Tuesday’s 1 p.m. deadline for NFL teams to get down to that 53-man roster threshold has come and gone. Across the league, more than 850 players are now in search of new homes or looking to land back on the practice squad.

If there was ever a time not to envy an NFL head coach, it’s now.

“It’s tough. It’s the worst two days of the job, there’s no doubt,” Kingsbury said Tuesday. “A lot of great men, a lot of great people that deserve it, but there’s some deep rooms and sometimes numbers don’t make sense. It’s never fun.”

#AZCardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury on making those final 53-man roster cuts:

“It’s the worst two days on the job, there’s no doubt. A lot of great men, great people that deserve it, but there’s some deep rooms and sometimes the numbers don’t make sense.” pic.twitter.com/0zwtmIXlkF

— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) August 30, 2022

Kingsbury didn’t take this year’s cuts lightly, adding he was going to use all the time he had up until 1 p.m. to iron out the 53-man roster.

And even then, the work’s far from over.

While the 53-man roster is official, it’s anywhere but set as teams continue to look at other free agents and recently cut players. There’s a practice squad that also must be filled out. And you can’t forget about short-term injured reserve, either, which the team will use to its advantage.

“There’s two or three guys that we’re looking at as an option,” Kingsbury said. “It’s just a lot of semantics that go into it, trying to move a guy here and cut a guy for a day. Things of that nature. It complicates it a bit but I think the short-term IR gives some flexibility to your roster.”

#AZCardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury on if there are any short-term IR candidates on the roster and the flexibility that can come with the designation: pic.twitter.com/to8tc3H5ym

— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) August 30, 2022

Jonathan Ward, Antoine Wesley considered day to day

Two players that cracked the initial 53-man roster in running back Jonathan Ward and wide receiver Antoine Wesley are considered day to day, per Kingsbury.

Ward is dealing with a shoulder issue and is questionable going into next week, while Wesley is still dealing with a hip/groin injury that sidelined him for a good portion of training camp and all of the preseason.

“(Wesley’s) made big strides but don’t know when that’s going to be cleared to go,” Kingsbury said.

Kingsbury disappointed for Antonio Hamilton

Another name worth keeping tabs on is cornerback Antonio Hamilton, who suffered an undisclosed injury last week.

The cornerback was named a starter opposite Byron Murphy Jr. before the unexpected injury.

“It’s disappointing for him, just the journey that he’s had and how he’s worked and the level he was playing at,” Kingsbury said Monday. “You hate to see that and you hope he can stay involved and come back and not miss a beat.

“But I think more than anything, it’s more disappointing to him just because he had earned a starting role at the position after basically bouncing around a bunch of teams. Hopefully he’s back sooner than later but we’ll see.”

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