The Arizona Cardinals won’t have wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins for what they hope is the final time this Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.
The All-Pro receiver is ruled out this week with a hamstring injury.
This will be Hopkins’ third straight missed game after he previously missed two over the first eight years of his career.
The Cardinals have a bye week after Sunday’s game, which should give Hopkins enough time to be in the mix for Week 13.
“I would say that just from watching him run at practice, encouraged about his progress and where he’s at,” Cardinals general manager Steve Keim told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Friday. “I feel confident that Hop is headed in the right direction, and after this game, we’ll be in a good position with him.”
Hopkins dealt with the injury going into Week 8, when the Cardinals hosted the Green bay Packers on Thursday Night Football.
He played just 15 snaps in that game as he was hampered by the injury. The veteran ran along the sideline to stretch himself out and at some points checked himself back into the game.
For the next two weeks, he missed practice and was ruled questionable for games.
“The National Football League in general deals with a lot of soft tissue injuries and particularly hamstrings,” Keim said. “And as far as that is we’ve come with sports science, that’s still an injury that we, I don’t think, really have figured it out in terms of being able to minimize the issues and be able to get a guy back on the field sooner. They can linger.”
Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who told reporters Hopkins won’t play Friday morning, said he expects his lead receiver to get back after the bye.
Next week will bring a much needed break for the injury-riddled Cardinals looking to get close to full strength for the final stretch of the season.