Andre Ellington greenlighted to play in Arizona Cardinals’ season opener

GLENDALE, Ariz. – With his playing status in question leading up to the season opener, Arizona Cardinals running back Andre Ellington turned to Twitter two hours before kickoff.

“I thank God for these blessings!” he tweeted.

Thirty minutes later, the news was confirmed: Ellington will suit up and play against the San Diego Chargers on Monday Night Football.

The second-year pro was not among the list of seven inactives named 90 minutes prior to game time, despite being tagged questionable on the final injury report. Ellington had aggravated a foot injury that limited him in practice Thursday and Saturday and kept him out for all of Friday’s work.

“He practiced enough to let me see what I needed to see,” head coach Bruce Arians said Saturday.

Punter Dave Zastudil will also be in uniform and available even though the team signed Drew Butler this afternoon after Zastudil was slowed by a groin issue during practice on Saturday.

Butler is active, too.

Tyrann Mathieu, on the other hand, is inactive, joining quarterback Logan Thomas, linebackers Glen Carson and Alex Okafor, guard Earl Watford, tight end Darren Fells and defensive end Kareem Martin.

Mathieu is just not quite ready.

The Cardinals have said from day one they would be cautious with the playmaking safety as he works his way back from a devastating knee injury suffered against the St. Louis Rams on Dec. 8 of last year.

“He’s looked very good in practice, particularly last week with full contact and tackling to the ground. He did a nice job, now it’s just whether he fits into the particular scheme this week when you talk about guys like Jerraud Powers and Tony Jefferson, who have played very well,” GM Steve Keim told Doug and Wolf Monday morning on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

“Now the biggest issue, or hurdle, that (Mathieu) has got to overcome is the change of direction and the coverabilty in space, with short-area quickness and lateral movement, just to make sure that knee is secure and feeling good.”

Regardless of the number of injuries to have hit his team, Arians reminded the media this week that there is no pause button to push to halt the start of the regular season.

“There’s going to be a bunch more bumps in the road down this stretch of games,” he said, “and we can’t worry about injuries, because nobody cares except us. Everybody else is happy about them, so we just keep on rolling.”

Follow @CraigAZSports