BJ Ojulari‘s second season in the NFL has ended before it even began. The linebacker suffered a torn ACL during practice on Friday, per NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe. The injury will knock the sophomore out for the entire 2024 campaign.
According to Darren Urban of the team’s website, Ojulari suffered the injury during an 11-on-11 drill. Urban notes that the linebacker didn’t need to be carted off the field, although he did require assistance from two trainers.
This is a gut punch for a squad that was counting on Ojulari on the edge. The 2023 second-round pick didn’t start a game as a rookie, but he still managed to get into all 17 games for the Cardinals. He finished the year with 40 tackles and four sacks, appearing in more than a third of Arizona’s defensive snaps. Pro Football Focus ultimately ranked him 65th among 112 qualifying edge defenders.
The Cardinals will now have to dig into OLB depth that was already light behind Ojulari and Zaven Collins. Dennis Gardeck is coming off a six-sack season in Arizona, but the veteran fell behind Ojulari on the depth chart in the second half of the 2023 campaign. Victor Dimukeje also contributed four sacks last year and could see an increase on his career-high 386 defensive snaps from 2023.