Mike LaFleur said Josh Sweat could be activated from the PUP list this coming week, a sign the Arizona Cardinals may finally get the edge rusher back on the field after a long absence that has stretched since the end of last season.
The timing matters because the Cardinals are down to the final stretch before NFL clubs must cut rosters to 53 players by Sunday, Aug. 30, and Sweat has still not practiced once with the team since last season ended. If he is cleared now, he would have only a narrow window to get live work before Wednesday’s joint-practice sessions in Wisconsin and the preseason finale at the Green Bay Packers on Friday, Aug. 28.
Sweat’s case has become one of the clearest roster-watch items in Arizona because he is not a depth piece. He signed a four-year deal worth $76.4 million after leaving the Philadelphia Eagles as a free agent, then finished his debut season in Arizona with a team-leading 12 sacks. The Cardinals placed him on the Physically Unable to Perform list when training camp began because of a minor knee issue, and he did not take part in any on-field work during OTAs or minicamp before that.
LaFleur tried to keep the concern limited, saying the move was precautionary and that Sweat would be activated as soon as possible. After the Cardinals lost 34-13 to the Dallas Cowboys at State Farm Stadium on Saturday night, he said Sweat was doing good and that the club wants its injured players back out there for football work. That still leaves the same basic question hanging over the depth chart: if the knee has not worsened, why has Sweat been out so long?
LaFleur offered part of the answer by pointing to the nature of the job. Edge rushers, he said, need football reps, but their rhythm and timing are not the same as a quarterback’s or an offensive line group’s. In his view, there is a difference between simply healing and being ready to fight in a stance on third down. That is why activation this week would matter so much; it would not just clear Sweat medically, it would give him a real chance to sharpen up before the season opener on Sept. 13 at the Los Angeles Chargers.
For now, the Cardinals appear to be treating Sweat’s return as a near-term possibility rather than a distant hope. If he is not activated this week, he is more than likely to miss the team’s scheduled work in Wisconsin and enter the final roster week still waiting for his first live practice of the year. For a player with 12 sacks on his last healthy run, that delay is starting to matter almost as much as the knee itself.
