The Arizona Cardinals placed cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting on the reserve/non-football injury list on May 22. The move means the 28-year-old Murphy-Bunting will miss the entire 2025 season, potentially ending his tenure with the organization.

Neither the Cardinals nor Murphy-Bunting have revealed the specifics of his injury.

The non-football injury list is a roster designation for players who are unable to practice due to either injuries unrelated to football or injuries that did not occur during NFL games or practices. Injuries sustained in training with private trainers, which nearly every NFL player utilizes, can land players on the list.

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) throws an incomplete pass as he is pressured by Arizona Cardinals cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting (23) in the first half at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Dec. 28, 2024.

Teams are not required to pay the base salary for players on the list. This season, Murphy-Bunting’s base salary was set to be $7.7 million, making up the majority of his $10 million cap hit. He will also not earn a per-game roster bonus that would have totaled $255,000 had he played all 17 games.

In 2026 — the final year of his deal with Arizona — Murphy-Bunting carries a $9.5 million cap hit. However, the Cardinals would only incur a $2 million cap hit if they cut Murphy-Bunting in the offseason, meaning they can save $7.5 million by doing so.

That makes him a likely cap casualty next winter as the Cardinals navigate a tighter budget. They are currently projected to have $18 million in cap space next offseason.

In the short term, the move to place Murphy-Bunting on the reserve/non-football injury list comes as a surprise. He only missed two games last season, both due to a neck injury sustained in Week 7. He returned in Week 10 and played the remainder of the season.

The Cardinals signed Murphy-Bunting to a three-year, $25.5 million deal in free agency ahead of the 2024 season, but he struggled throughout the year, never providing the steady secondary presence that Arizona believed it had added. For much of the season, Murphy-Bunting was outperformed by Starling Thomas V, a waiver acquisition the previous year, and Max Melton, a rookie.

His 56.5 grade from Pro Football Focus was subpar. And though he finished with three interceptions, he was credited with allowing 37 receptions for 390 yards in his 15 games.

Then, in April, the Cardinals drafted cornerback Will Johnson, a player seen as a top-10 talent who slid into the second round due to his own injury concerns.

So while Murphy-Bunting was the only veteran in a young room, his starting spot was far from guaranteed. The Cardinals were likely to enter training camp with Murphy-Bunting, Johnson, Melton and Thomas competing for two starting jobs at outside corner, with Garrett Williams secure in his role as the starting nickel.

Now, they have three players for those two starting jobs, as a young room gets even younger.