After the Arizona Cardinals lost two of their starting outside linebackers for the season, rookie Alex Okafor was set for a bump in playing time. Unfortunately, the opportunity was short lived as the team announced on Tuesday Okafor tore a tendon in his biceps and will miss the rest of the 2013 season.

Despite the injury, Okafor, a fourth round draft pick out of Texas, remains optimistic.

“I was a little disappointed, it was my opportunity to kind of step in and help the team out but unfortunate things happen,” Okafor said. “It’s in the past and I just got to look forward to next season.”

Okafor added he could have tried to play through the injury but decided it was in his best interest to have the surgery.

“At this point in my career, it wasn’t worth playing through,” Okafor said. “I still have a lot of football left in me and I don’t want that to be a hampering injury throughout my career.”

The injury occurred during Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints on a special teams play. Okafor attempted to grab an opposing player, but the Saint, “kind of ran through my arm, kind of overextended it and it popped.” He said the adrenaline numbed the pain until after the game, at which point he knew something was wrong.

The Arizona Cardinals Broadcast Department contributed to this report

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