John Wetzel ready to step in at right tackle Sunday vs. Texans

He’s practiced up and down the offensive line all season long – and been plugged in a handful of times here, there and everywhere – so becoming the Cardinals’ new starting right tackle is really nothing new for John Wetzel.

That’s where he will line up Sunday against the Houston Texans, and with it comes the challenge of trying to keep outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney out of Arizona’s backfield.

“He’s a good player. You’re talking speed, power,” Wetzel said Tuesday after the Cardinals wrapped up practice at their Tempe training facility. “They’ve got some guys who are a little banged up right now, but he’s still there and he causes a lot of disruption. He moves around everywhere.”

Yeah, kind of like Wetzel. He’s taking over at right tackle for Jared Veldheer, who now slides back to left tackle in the wake of D.J. Humphries’ season-ending knee injury.

“I initially started off playing a lot of right tackle anyway, so for me the transition should be pretty natural,” Wetzel said. “I’ve been backing up everywhere and have spent a lot of time on the left side obviously this year, but this should be a fairly easy move for me. I still need some time over there, but once I get used to it again, I should be fine.”

Who’s getting activated?

It’s anyone’s guess at this point as to which two players the Cardinals will decide to activate off the injured reserve list. They don’t have to activate anyone, but NFL teams are allowed only a maximum of two to return per year.

The top candidates were believed to be running back David Johnson (left wrist) and quarterback Carson Palmer (left arm), but the Cardinals apparently are widening their options.

Technically, Johnson and fellow running back T.J. Logan (wrist) are eligible to begin practicing with the team. Coach Bruce Arians, however, said Logan’s wrist is still too stiff for the rookie even to be practicing fielding punts and kickoffs. Johnson just had his cast removed on Monday, nearly three weeks after Logan had his removed, so he’s probably still weeks behind.

“There’s no doubt it’s fluid,” General Manager Steve Keim said Tuesday during his weekly radio appearance on Arizona Sports 98.7-FM. “There are  probably anywhere from four to five guys, whether it’s David Johnson, T.J. Logan, (guard) Mike Iupati (elbow), (long snapper) Aaron Brewer (wrist) or even Carson Palmer that could potentially come back as the two designated-to-return players.

“We’ll determine that, again, in a fluid process of which guys are healing at a faster rate and what makes sense moving forward at that time of the year.”

Lamenting the drops

Both Arians and Keim were still upset Tuesday with what they saw out of their receivers during Thursday night’s loss to the Seahawks. There were far too many dropped passes in the game, they said, and that has to get better immediately.

“Route running is fine, it’s just a matter of finishing and catching it,” Arians said. “We dropped way too many balls on (quarterback) Drew (Stanton) in that ballgame. It had kind of gone away, and it showed back up in a big, big game.”

Keim said he was “extremely disappointed” in the amount of drops.

“I don’t think that’s any secret,” Keim said. “Our receiving corps, aside from Larry (Fitzgerald), really, quite frankly, let us down. Whether it was drops, whether it was tight ends in traffic not catching the football. I thought Drew gave us a chance to win.”

Peterson nominated 

Perennial Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Peterson has been nominated for the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award, established in 2014 to recognize players who demonstrate good qualities such as sportsmanship, fair play, integrity and respect for the game.

Every team nominates one candidate for the award, which will be presented Feb. 3, the night before the Super Bowl. Larry Fitzgerald was the inaugural winner of the award.

MORE: Stanton could still start at QB against the Texans, despite knee injury

MORE: RB David Johnson has his cast removed

Reach McManaman at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Wednesday night between 7-9 on Fox Sports 910-AM on The Freaks with Kenny and Crash.