When the Cardinals signed Justin Pugh to a five-year, $45 million deal this offseason, some people noted that Pugh has missed 13 games over the last two seasons and wondered if his body will hold up in Arizona.
As you’d imagine, Pugh isn’t happy with any label that suggests he’s a bad risk because he’s injury prone. During an appearance on Arizona Sports 98.7, Pugh said people are “not doing their diligence” if they label him that way and explained what led to the back injury that kept him out of the lineup for the Giants’ final eight games last year.
“We were struggling up front and they moved me to a position I hadn’t played in two years,” Pugh said. “I’m out there playing right tackle and then they were like, ‘we need you to play left guard’ and then next week it’s back to right tackle. That’s not good for your body. You can’t get used to it that fast and there was some anxiety because I hadn’t played the position in two years, going to right tackle. ... I just put one on the back for the team, no pun intended, and it ended up not helping me too much. It would have been a totally different story this past year if I wasn’t in that situation.”
We can’t know how things would have gone for Pugh if he’d remained at one position for all of last season, but the hope in Arizona is that he’ll be staying put at right guard all year. If that leads to better health, it would be welcome news for running back David Johnson and perhaps quarterback Sam Bradford’s own bid to tamp down the injury prone label as well.