LG Iupati needs surgery, headed to IR

Humphries also has setback with knee

KENT SOMERS

The left side of the Cardinals’ offensive line remains in shambles after two starters apparently suffered setbacks this week in their recoveries from injuries.

Left guard Mike Iupati needs surgery on his right arm and will be placed on injured reserve. Coach Bruce Arians said the recovery time is at least eight weeks. That makes it doubtful that Iupati will return this season.

“He had a bone spur that broke off that was cutting his tendon,” Arians said. “He was trying to play with it, but he needs to get it done before it cuts it in half.”

Left tackle D.J. Humphries, who appeared on track to return after missing two games with a left knee sprain, is listed as questionable. During the open part of practice, Humphries was working on the side with an athletic trainer.

Earlier in the week, the Cardinals felt confident that Humphries would return this week. That confidence was gone by Friday, suggesting Humphries re-injured the knee during practice this week.

Iupati’s replacement, Alex Boone, suffered a pectoral muscle tear on Monday night and likely will miss two weeks, Arians said.

Those injuries leave the Cardinals with backups starting against the 49ers this week.

John Wetzel has been starting at left tackle, but he could move to guard. That would leave rookie Will Holden to start at left tackle.

Or the team could keep Wetzel at left tackle and start Daniel Munyer at guard.

“It’s a plug and play type thing,” Holden said. “In the NFL, you kind of have to know everything, be ready to go whenever.”

Holden, who played tackle at Vanderbilt, said he has no preference between guard and tackle: “I just have a preference of playing.”

In addition, defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche aggravated a calf strain in Thursday’s practice and won’t play vs. the 49ers. Nkemdiche, a first-round pick last year, will have played in only seven of a possible 20 games in his career.

Receiver John Brown, who missed the last two games with a quadriceps injury, is expected to play on Sunday. Brown and receiver J.J. Nelson are listed as questionable.

For the 49ers, starting safety Eric Reid (ankle) and rookie linebacker Reuben Foster (ankle) are out.

If Holden starts on Sunday, it will be the culmination of a busy week for him. After last Monday night’s game, he proposed to his girlfriend, Casey, at the 50yard line at University of Phoenix Stadium. She said yes.

“We’ve been dating for five years, so it was the time,” Holden said. The Cardinals are one of six teams to employ 49ers starting quarterback Brian Hoyer, but his stint in Arizona was short.

The Cardinals claimed Hoyer off waivers with three weeks left in the 2012 season. He played in two games, including a start in the season finale at San Francisco.

The Cardinals kept Hoyer until the following May, two months after signing Drew Stanton in free agency and a month after trading for Carson Palmer.

Hoyer enjoyed his time in Arizona, he said, but “getting released by the Cardinals was the best thing that happened to me because I was able to go to Cleveland and play,” he said this week. “I mean, had I been there, I don’t know if I’d have ever seen the field. For me, when Carson (Palmer) was traded, it became pretty apparent that I wasn’t a part of their plans.”

In Cleveland, Hoyer played for 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, who was the Browns’ offensive coordinator. That connection led to Hoyer signing with the 49ers this year.

In his one start for the Cardinals, Hoyer completed 19 of 34 passes for 225 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The Cardinals lost, 27-13.

“Knowing that I came in and started a game in the NFL, my first start ever, after only being there for about a week and a half, two weeks, it kind of proves that you’ve just got to go out and play…read and react,” Hoyer said. “I remember just saying, ‘OK, where’s Larry (Fitzgerald)?’ Like, throw to Number 11. I remember him telling me that in that huddle. He was like, ‘Don’t worry, just throw it to me.’”