Arizona Cardinals Tight End Trey McBride will miss this Sunday’s game due to a concussion.
Arizona Cardinals will be missing one of their top weapons in tight end Trey McBride for Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders. McBride had a breakout season last year after injuries tabled former Cards’ tight end Zach Ertz, from there McBride never looked back. He totaled 825 receiving yards on 81 catches and 3 touchdowns in only 12 starts. McBride’s breakout seemed to line up with quarterback Kyler Murray feeling fully healthy after returning from an ACL injury suffered in 2022. McBride was taken TE3 in most drafts so this is a blow for another top tight end who are having rough start to the season.
The top backup to McBride is Elijah Higgins, who has a very similar athletic profile to McBride. Higgins has a 84th percentile burst score compared to McBride’s 47th percentile. Higgins only has 4 catches in three games although one of them was a touchdown on a crazy scramble and throw from Murray. If you are desperate for a waiver pick up, McBride’s direct back up in Higgins may not be a bad option.
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Zach Ertz is set to miss at least the next 4 games on IR after sustaining a quad strain in week 7.
In what sounds like one of the more serious Quad strains to ever occur, the Cardinals have chosen to place Zach Ertz on IR after he sustained the injury in week 7 against the Seahawks. He is now set to miss the next 4 weeks, with his earliest chance to return being week 12 against the Rams. While the Rams have been one of the more generous teams to opposing tight ends, Ertz’s production over the past few weeks doesn’t give fantasy managers much reason to hold out for his return.
Ertz started off the season looking like his old, target-earning self, securing 8 or more targets in 3 of his first 4 games. Since week 5, he’s been unable to garner more than 5 targets in a game, and he saw his snap share drop below 75% in weeks 6 & 7. Over those past two weeks, Ertz’s backup Trey McBride has been eating into the tight end snap share and has drawn more than 5 targets in both games.
Ertz missing at least the next 4 games makes McBride a top waiver priority for tight end needy teams. The Cardinals took McBride in the 2nd round of the 2022 draft after he won the John Mackey award as the top collegiate tight end for the CSU Rams in 2021. It’s clear McBride has the pedigree to secure the starting role if he can produce going forward, and fantasy managers should feel comfortable dropping Ertz in regular league formats if they need the roster spot.
