The Arizona Cardinals may be heading toward a difficult call on Tip Reiman, and the timeline is starting to get tight.
Reiman, the former third-round pick, is still working back from the severe ankle injury he suffered in October of last season. He hasn’t been released or cut, but he also hasn’t moved off PUP since the start of training camp. He has been seen rehabbing away from the main flow of practice, and the latest word from head coach Mike LaFleur suggests the tight end is unlikely to be ready for the regular season opener.
“No with Tip, but again he's progressing. There's just conversations [to be had],” LaFleur told reporters.
“Again, it's just day to day. He's putting in a ton of work as well, so that's just that's just day to day.
He's a large man too, right? And putting a lot of force in that.
There's the good days and there's the not as good days, but putting in a lot of work. We'll see.”
That’s a notable shift from earlier in the offseason, when LaFleur said the Cardinals expected Reiman to be ready for training camp. Now the situation looks murkier, with one of the team’s better blockers potentially unavailable not just for Week 1, but possibly longer.
If Reiman stays on PUP, he would be forced to sit out the first four games of the season. That means the Cardinals have a real roster decision ahead, and LaFleur made clear those conversations aren’t simple.
“Those are the tough decisions, and you lean on the player to speak truth as well, and trust these guys,” LaFleur said when asked if Reiman was going to stay on PUP.
“Tip is made of all the right stuff, so Tip's going to keep it real with us. But those are the decisions that have to be made for the reasons that you're saying.”
Reiman is expected to be a key part of Arizona’s push to establish the run. LaFleur has spoken highly of him before, including earlier this offseason when he said, “Another guy that I had a lot of respect for coming out of Illinois,” and added, “It's like some of those guys, when you get the job, you're like, 'Yes!
I wanted him coming out of the draft!' and then you get to inherit him.
I can say that easily about Tip because Tip is all of the right stuff in terms of how he approaches it and stuff like that. It was unfortunate what happened a year ago, but big piece of where I think we can go.”
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