The Cardinals will have some different faces on the defensive side of the ball in their third preseason game than they had in their first two outings.
During a Friday press conference, coach Bruce Arians said that safety Tyrann Mathieu will play for the first time since tearing his ACL last December. Mathieu said this week that he “wouldn’t say I’m ready to play a full game” and he won’t be out there for anything close to that as Arians said the plan is for Mathieu to play 10 snaps at the most.
That’s also true of defensive lineman Frostee Rucker and cornerback Justin Bethel, who were also on the physically unable to perform list for most of camp.
Defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche is slated to play a bigger role. The first-round pick missed weeks with an ankle injury, but has been practicing and Arians said he’ll see a lot of playing time against the Texans this weekend.
