Cardinals center Shipley out for year

6-year veteran has torn ACL

GLENDALE — The Arizona Cardinals have lost starting center A.Q. Shipley for the season with a torn right ACL and will replace him with rookie Mason Cole. Coach Steve Wilks confirmed the injury Monday, saying the center “heard something pop” in his knee during a goal-line drill in training camp on Saturday.

Shipley, a six-year NFL veteran, started all 16 games each of the past two seasons, the only member of the Cardinals offensive line to play every game either year. Wilks called him “a tremendous leader and hard worker.”

“When you talk about the DNA that I look for, a guy that loves the game, very passionate, gritty,” Wilks said. “He really was the leader up front.”

Shipley signed with Arizona as a free agent in 2015, working his way to a starting role after bouncing around the NFL early in his career.

“Coach (offensive coordinator Mike) McCoy said it best,” right guard Justin Pugh said. “He’s the heartbeat of the offensive line. So it’s’ definitely tough news to hear and knowing everything he’s been through in his career.”

The 6-foot-5, 307-pound Cole is a third-round draft pick out of Michigan, where he was a four-year starter but only one — his junior year — was at center.

The Cardinals, though, drafted him as a center and he’s been working at that position through the offseason.

“I learned a lot from him (Shipley) my first few months of being here and still will learn a lot from