After suffering a season-ending ACL tear in Week 5 of the 2024 NFL season, Will Hernandez was placed on injured reserve and his NFL future was suddenly very murky. Despite being a consistent starter in the league for all seven of his seasons in the NFL, Hernandez was fast-approaching 30 years old and entered the offseason as a free agent.
Now, with the 2025 NFL season just about one month away, Hernandez announced his return to the Arizona Cardinals on Instagram on August 7, only a few weeks after revealing that he was officially medically cleared to return to the football field. Hernandez started 35 games for the Cardinals from 2022 to 2024, but the veteran from Las Vegas, Nevada isn’t expected to retain his starting spot right out of the gate.
“He’s a good player, but coming off a major injury so we’ll get him in and get him caught up, get him healthy and ready to go,” Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said of Hernandez before confirming that Evan Brown and Isaiah Adams will be starting at the two guard positions to begin the season.
Cardinals Hoping Will Hernandez Can Return to Pre-Injury Form
Although Hernandez doesn’t have an All-Pro nod or Pro Bowl appearance to his name, the former 2nd Round pick has been steady throughout his seven year NFL career. In his last full season with the Cardinals, Hernandez was ranked 30th among 136 qualified guards in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus.
This ranking, and the fact that Hernandez didn’t rank outside of the top 40 in any of his three seasons with the Cardinals, is a testament to how hard he had worked to shed the disappointment of how his tenure with the New York Giants ended.
“Will plays hard,” Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing said on August 7. “You see the physicality and the movement skills. We have a lot of familiarity with him.”
Last season, Brown ranked 46th among qualified guard, while Adams — who has been a standout during Cardinals training camp — was ranked 82nd.
Protecting Emerging Leader Kyler Murray Key for Cards
Even if Will Hernandez doesn’t retain his spot as the starting right guard for the Arizona Cardinals, his presence in the room will be a huge boost to a group that severely lacks experience outside of the starters. His familiarity with quarterback Kyler Murray, who has the experience of returning from an ACL tear in his past as well, will be a welcome development.
Speaking of development, one big development for the Arizona Cardinals — one that is necessary if this team hopes to contend in the NFC West and beyond — is the emergence of Kyler Murray as the sort of bonafide leader the Cardinals have been hoping to see for years now. Most concerns regarding Murray’s commitment to the game and the nuances of being an NFL quarterback have been put to rest throughout the offseason, and his coaches are seeing a more locked-in approach heading into the 2025 campaign.
“He’s done such a good job of embracing that aspect of the job. It’s hard to pinpoint whether it’s leadership or vision or command of the huddle. I think he’s doing a lot at a really high level right now,” Drew Petzing said earlier in camp, per Donnie Druin of Sports Illustrated.
Jonathan Gannon sees much of the same from the seventh-year quarterback, and as a result, there’s no lack of trust between quarterback and head coach.
“I’ll never question his decision-making,” Gannon said. “I know what we coach and I know what he’s allowed to do and what he sees, but I trust him to make the right decision and make plays for us. I really do.”
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