Paris Johnson Jr. Is Out, and the Cardinals' Left Tackle Spot Is a Problem Without a Clean Answer

Paris Johnson Jr. is done for the season with a biceps tear, the team confirmed. He's listed as Out in the current injury report, and the depth chart behind him at tackle is thin — Demontrey Jacobs is next in line, with no one behind him carrying meaningful snaps this season.

The timing is rough even by this team's standards. The offensive line was already navigating real uncertainty: Chase Bisontis tore his MCL in the preseason, Isaiah Adams remains questionable with his legal situation unresolved, and the team locked up center Hjalte Froholdt in August specifically to anchor a unit that had too many moving pieces. Johnson losing his season removes the one tackle the Cardinals could point to with confidence.

What's behind him on the depth chart hasn't been tested at this level. Jacobs is the name, but he hasn't logged the kind of playing time that would tell you much about what he can handle against starting-caliber pass rushers. My read is that this is the kind of hole that doesn't get quietly filled — it gets exposed, week after week, until the coaching staff finds something that works or the pocket collapses enough times that the offense has to be rebuilt around it.

Arizona is 3-14 on the season and already eliminated. That context matters only in the sense that the urgency here isn't about a playoff race — it's about whether Jacoby Brissett finishes the year healthy and whether any of the young pieces around him develop with a functional line in front of them.