Arizona linebacker Kyzir White is back for Year 7 and his second in a Cardinals uniform after a torn bicep kept him out of the final six games last season.
Despite his absence, White still led the Cardinals with 90 tackles. He also added two sacks, nine tackles for loss, an interception, three passes defensed and two QB hits.
White, who prior to the injury played every snap of the 2023 season, told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Wednesday that he thought the injury was a “bad cramp” at first.
“I’m sitting there praying like, please let me be good,” White said. “Like, I know this about to subside, and it wouldn’t go away and I’m like, damn.”
Cardinals head athletic trainer Drew Krueger then looked at White and asked to see his arm.
“I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m good.’ You know, I knew deep down, I wasn’t good, though,” White said. “But he seen my arm. I was like, ‘What you think?’ I was like, ‘You think it’s something serious?’ And no, he was like, ‘Yeah, it’s serious, come in the tent.’”
The injury occurred in the Cardinals 21-16 Week 11 loss against the Houston Texans. Up to that point, White had played all 683 snaps for the Cardinals on defense and remained in the game for five or six snaps after the injury.
“(Krueger) just knew because he said my bicep was like, sunken in,” White said. “I guess it’s, like, a certain way. It was looking, it was like, popping out and stuff like that. So he just knew something.
“I mean, your adrenaline going and you’re in the midst of chaos. I mean, I’m trying to go out there and put it all on the line for my team. So it was just like, all that adrenaline. I’m looking like, man, no way. I thought tore nothing here. Like, I’m good, you know, I mean, but yeah, then, you know, unfortunately, it didn’t work like that, and tore right off.”
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White has since undergone surgery and a lengthy rehab process but while he said the injury broke his heart, he still made it a point to be with the team in meetings and show up to practices which helped him cope with the injury.
“Oh yeah, it broke my heart a lot, man. I went home and I told myself even though I was feeling down and out I wasn’t gonna try to show it. I was still showing up to meetings, still showing up to practice, sitting on the sidelines for hours watching still, staying engaged with the guys, still trying to be a part because I feel like if I was just on my own, not around nobody, I feel like it would have really, really, definitely hit me way worse.”
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