The absence of starting Arizona Cardinals tight end Maxx Williams has been one of the more understated problems the team has had in some parts of the offense. He missed a lot of practice time in training camp with an injury. He was limited all week leading up to the season opener with an ankle injury. He played in Week 1 and then was unable to practice after that and was placed on injured reserve.
His ankle injury is apparently fairly serious. He still is a few weeks away, according to head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
“We’ll see on Maxx,” he said when asked about any updates about Williams. “I’m hopeful we get around that bye week that he may be ready to go. But I know he’s been rehabbing hard and he’s anxious to get back.”
The Cardinals have three more games before the bye — on the road against the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys and then at home against the Seattle Seahawks.
Williams was a major reason the running game was so good during the second half of the season and the team misses his “juice” and energy when he is on the field.
Hopefully the team can get things on track offensively, especially with the running game, before he returns, but when he does, it should help things. He is the best blocking tight end by far on the team.
But what we mostly thought was probably a simple ankle sprain was clearly something much worse.
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