Cardinals Place Two on Injured Reserve, Make Other Roster Moves

The Arizona Cardinals announced a slew of roster moves today, the first coming from the practice squad:

"The Arizona Cardinals Football Club today announced that the team has signed tight end John Samuel Shenker and re-signed linebacker Davion Taylor to the practice squad and has released wide receiver Daniel Arias from the practice squad. The signings took place today at the Dignity Health Arizona Cardinals Training Center in Tempe, AZ.

"Shenker (6-3, 242) entered the league in May with the Raiders as an undrafted rookie free agent from Auburn. After being released following training camp, Shenker spent time on the Raiders practice squad this season. He finished his Auburn career as the school’s all-time leader for receptions by a tight end (68) and second in program history among tight ends with 779 receiving yards.

"Shenker will wear jersey #42 and Taylor will wear #54."

Shortly after, the team announced more roster moves which saw Geoff Swaim and Josh Woods placed on injured reserve, effectively ending their season:

• Signed tight end Travis Vokolek (VOKE-oh-leck) to the active roster from Baltimore’s practice squad

• Signed linebacker Tyreek Maddox-Williams to the active roster from the team’s practice squad

• Placed tight end Geoff Swaim and linebacker Josh Woods on injured reserve

More on Vokolek from the official release:

"Vokolek (6-6, 260) entered the league with the Ravens in May as an undrafted rookie free agent from Nebraska. He has been on Baltimore’s practice squad all season after being released following training camp. The 25-year old Vokolek appeared in 45 games (25 starts) at Nebraska (2020-22) and Rutgers (2017-18) and had 57 receptions for 656 yards and four touchdowns between both schools. As a senior in 2022, Vokolek was a team captain and had a career-high 20 receptions for 240 yards and two touchdowns.

"Vokolek will wear jersey #81."

Earlier today, Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon spoke on Swaim's injury:

“We obviously feel good about (TE) Trey (McBride) and ‘Higgi’ (TE Elijah Higgins) and then we got (TE) Blake (Whiteheart) ready to go. I know ‘Seiko’s’ (TE Bernhard Seikovits) here. We might add some pieces, but we’ll see how that goes. Who’s ever out there will be ready to roll," he said.

“He’s doing OK. We’ll see how the week goes here—actually not quite sure on that. He might not be able to go. Still kind of evaluating that. I know it’s normally two days, but with that one, with his particular case, kind of still evaluating that. We’ll see where it goes today.”

The Cardinals are 3-11 and are officially out of playoff contention after losing to the San Francisco 49ers over the weekend. They'll play the Chicago Bears in Week 16.