Cardinals second-round rookie suffers long-term injury
The Arizona Cardinals defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 27-14 in their first preseason game on Thursday night, but it seems to have come at a cost.
Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur revealed after the game that rookie guard Chase Bisontis was injured when a Raiders defensive lineman fell into the side of his left knee in the third quarter.
Bisontis was carted to the locker room and LaFleur later said it didn’t look good, indicating it is going to be a long-term injury, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
That is certainly devastating news for the Cardinals and Bisontis, who was expected to compete with Isaiah Adams for the starting right guard job.
However, that job may now go to Adams by default, unless the team decides to bring in more competition for him elsewhere.
Bisontis will still undergo further medical evaluation that is expected to confirm bad news, but it looks like the Cardinals will be without him until later this year or even into 2027.
The Cardinals selected Bisontis with the No. 34 overall pick in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M, where he earned freshman All-American and freshman All-SEC honors.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Arizona has dealt with bad injury luck with rookie offensive linemen in the preseason. Last year, sixth-round pick Hayden Conner missed most of the regular season after he was injured in the preseason.
Then in 2024, fifth-round pick Christian Jones missed most of the regular season after he was injured in the preseason, and in 2023, fourth-round pick Jon Gaines missed his entire rookie season with a preseason injury.
So, it seems the Cardinals have been hit with the injury bug for a fourth straight year to a fourth straight rookie offensive lineman.
