Cardinals CB Robert Alford’s return ‘doesn’t look great’; Wilson day-to-day

Things aren’t sounding too promising for injured Arizona Cardinals cornerback Robert Alford.

The corner was placed on the injured reserve on Dec. 18 after suffering a pectoral injury in a Week 14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. And While he is eligible to come off the IR starting this week, the move seems highly unlikely given his current status.

“That doesn’t look great for a return within the next couple of weeks at least,” head coach Kliff Kingsbury said Wednesday.

Based on Kingsbury’s timeline, a possible return wouldn’t be in the cards unless the Cardinals made a deep run in the playoffs.

In 13 games this season, Alford recorded an interception, four passes defensed and 30 tackles.

Alford flashed in his return to the football field after missing the past two seasons due to injury, one of which being a pectoral issue.

As for fellow cornerback Marco Wilson, the rookie is considered day-to-day as he works to get back from a shoulder issue sustained in the team’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

“Trying to get that shoulder good enough to practice and start getting back into it,” Kingsbury said. “We’ll see how that plays out this week.”

Wilson wasn’t out with the team during the open portion of practice on Wednesday, but was seen working on the side, per Cardinals reporter Darren Urban.

The rookie has been a big boost for Arizona’s secondary in 2021, tallying four passes defensed, 48 tackles and two forced fumbles over 14 games.

With the pair sidelined, the Cardinals have turned to a group effort to fill their voids, with corners Antonio Hamilton and Kevin Peterson filling in recently.

Peterson played 92% of the defensive snaps (59), making his first start of 2021 in Arizona’s win over the Dallas Cowboys. He turned in the second most tackles on the team with seven.

“I’m a believer that if you can do it in practice, you can do it in a game,” Kingsbury said. “Kevin Peterson was another one that really stepped up the other night, had seven tackles, thought he played well in coverage, but you do it in practice, you work hard, you do things right, we trust them to go in and make plays and they’ve done it.

“With some of the tough injuries we’ve had, we’ve needed guys to step up and they proved it in practice that they could do it and just exciting to see it transition onto the field whenever they can make plays like that.”

EXTRA POINT

– Kingsbury considers injured running backs James Conner and Chase Edmonds as day-to-day:

“We’ll see how they progress throughout the week. Those are two guys that we need healthy moving into the playoffs, obviously, so we gotta be smart with them but if they can go, we’ll definitely try and get some work.”

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