Al Johnson Might Have Surgery and Anquan Boldin Needs an MRI

In what can only be described as depressing news, Al Johnson is headed back to Phoenix today after missing the past two days of practice. He had fluid drained from his knee early in camp, after having off season surgery and it was orginally thought that he would only miss Monday's morning practice. Obviously things haven't gone as planned and he's left camp to get it checked out. A 'glass half empty' view would be that a knee that accumulates fluid after just a couple of light practices and then doesn't heal as quickly as expected sounds like a debilitating injury that could be an issue all season long. On the other hand, a 'glass half full' guy, like myself, would say that Johnson's got plenty of time before the season starts to rest and get the knee as close to 100%. He's a veteran player who won't need much practice time to get 'game ready.' For now I'll keep my Cardinal-colored glasses on and look at the silver lining instead of the rain clouds.

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Update on Al Johnson: It's not looking good as Darren Urban is reporting that Coach Whisenhunt hinted that Al Johnson might need surgery on his ailing knee. He wouldn't give a definitive answer but said the possibilities are either surgery or rehab and then proclaimed his confidence in backup Lyle Sendlein. It's not looking good and I don't think he would have mentioned Sendlein unless there are a good chance that Johnson will miss at least part of the season.

Update on Anquan Boldin: Boldin will undergo an MRI on Friday morning to make sure that there isn't any major problems with his strained hamstring. While it's probably too early to get worried about this, players don't have MRI for no reason. There must be some concern that it's not healing properly or quickly enough, and that news is bad enough in itself.