Cardinals Michael Wilson out for the year with neck fracture, how it impacts fantasy football

The Arizona Cardinals will be without their top wide receiver for the rest of the 2026 season. Wideout Michael Wilson will be out for the year with a fracture in his neck, head coach Mike LaFleur announced on Monday.

Wilson suffered the injury on the fourth play of the game, but he played through the injury.

"He said he kinda had a kink in his neck, but he's such a warrior he didn't think much of it. When the adrenaline wore down and he got his test today, that's when we knew," LaFleur said.

Despite the injury, Wilson still had with the most receiving yards on the team in their Week 9 17-3 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, finishing with six receptions for 60 yards. This season, he leads the team among wide receivers with 51 receptions on 88 targets for 546 yards and two touchdowns through nine games, all of which were starts.

The Cardinals have already taken numerous hits to the wide receiver room. Marvin Harrison Jr. was traded earlier this season, Kendrick Bourne is out for the year, and Jalen Brooks is also on IR. With Wilson out, the team will need to rely on undrafted rookie Harrison Wallace III, rookie fifth rounder Reggie Virgil and veteran Simi Fehoko.

Wallace has one game played, no starts and no targets this season. Virgil has nine receptions for 54 yards and Fehoko has one reception for 17 yards. In total, all three combine for 71 yards on the season, about 13 percent of what Wilson has alone this year. Fehoko, a six-year veteran, only has 11 receptions across his entire career.

Wilson is coming off a career-best 2025 with his first 1,000-yard showing. He finished the year with 1,006 yards on 78 receptions with seven touchdown receptions. The 2023 third rounder has 47 total starts over 55 games, all with the Cardinals, for 2,665 yards on 214 receptions and 16 trips to the end zone.

CBS Sports Senior Fantasy writer Heath Cummings noted that the injury could have major fantasy football implications as league close in on playoffs. Trey McBride is still expected to see a third of the Cardinals' targets, which makes him a "must-start," but his efficency might dip now that teams have no other pass catchers to worry about.

LaFleur added Gardner Minshew could miss Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Rams, as the team fears that Minshew suffered a torn UCL, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. Minshew is getting more tests, but the injury (that Minshew suffered before halftime but played with) could also put him on season-ending IR. Carson Beck taking over would also impact the team's wide receiver production in a negative way.