Cardinals linebacker Deone Bucannon (right), here talking with scout Adrian Wilson during an OTA following his ankle surgery, will open training camp on the PUP list.
At the end of minicamp, Bruce Arians said he was encouraged by the health of his roster, noting that only linebacker Deone Bucannon figured to begin training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list.
Arians was right.
Bucannon – who had ankle surgery in May – was offically placed on active PUP Friday afternoon. Bucannon cannot practice with the team until he
is removed from the list, which could be at any point in the preseason. If he remains on PUP when the regular season begins, the Cardinals save his roster spot but he cannot practice or play for the first six weeks.
The hope is that Bucannon will be ready later in training camp.
"Deone is close," Arians said. "He's getting there. I think he's a little bit ahead of schedule. We have our fingers crossed. The first game is his due date, so to speak. Hopefully we'll have him ready to play.
Bucannon said Tuesday during his charity bowling event that he remains hopeful.
"I want to start the season," Bucannon said. "I'm not here to rush anything and I'm not going to put a timetable on it, but at the same time, I want to get out there as quickly as I possibly can. But get out there at 100 percent so I can do the best for the team and not be a liability."
Rookie No. 1 pick Haason Reddick has been playing with the first team in Bucannon's spot, next to veteran Karlos Dansby.
Bucannon was bothered by the ankle injury most of last season, a reason why Bucannon's play dropped some from a stellar 2015. Originally hurt in Week 4, Bucannon ultimately spent the last three games of the season in injured reserve. After the season, Bucannon was confident the injury could be rehabbed without surgery.
But after going through part of the offseason and getting on the field during Phase 2 helmet-less work, Bucannon ended up having the surgery in mid-May, leading to his landing on the PUP list.
The only other injured Cardinal right now is linebacker Jarvis Jones, who "tweaked" a quadricep muscle during the run test Friday. Arians said Jones could miss a couple of days of work. Jones was officially placed on the active non-football-injury list Friday.
