The Cardinals dug into their cornerback depth in Sunday's game against the 49ers as typical starters Byron Murphy Jr. and Marco Wilson were out with ribs injuries.
Robert Alford was the only regular who lined up outside for the Cardinals with Antonio Hamilton on the opposite side. Practice-squad corner Jace Whittaker had to fill in the slot.
After the game, all three received praise.
"Was really proud of Jace Whittaker, Antonio Hamilton and Rob Alford," head coach Kliff Kingsbury said on Monday's Zoom press conference. "Really the most action (Alford has) seen in over two years and those guys competed their tails off and really helped us win that football game. You can't say enough good things about them being ready to roll and prepared."
Alford manned the right side while Hamilton was on the left. 49ers quarterback Trey Lance rarely even looked in Alford's direction.
The veteran corner was never targeted, according to Pro Football Reference, as just five of Lance's 15 completions were right of the left hash mark and past the line of scrimmage.
Here is Lance's chart via Next Gen Stats:
Hamilton saw more action, especially because he had to mark 49ers top receiver Deebo Samuel for a good chunk of his snaps. Naturally, Samuel made a couple of spectacular catches to negate tight coverage.
Still, Hamilton, who signed with the team late in training camp and was primarily a special-teams player before Week 5, continues to show the Cardinals he is a reliable replacement.
"Ham coming in and this is his first year on the team . . . I love pros, guys who just understand their job and do their job at a high level no matter what," safety Budda Baker said postgame. "Whether they're starting, second string, third string, they're going to do their best, and I appreciate those guys so much."
Baker also gave credit to Whittaker, who was elevated as a COVID-19 replacement for tight end Darrell Daniels. The veteran safety said Whittaker is a technical player who always asks questions to try to improve.
Kingsbury said on Monday that the weekend off helped Murphy and Wilson, but the duo will be day-to-day for the time being.
The Cardinals take on the Cleveland Browns next Sunday, the sixth-highest scoring team in the NFL but one that heavily relies on the run game.
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