AP

Cardinals rookie safety Deone Bucannon has signed his contract, clearing one obstacle that stood in the way of his expected ascension to the starting lineup in his first NFL season.

Now he just needs to get healthy enough to prove that he’s the right man for the job. Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic reports that Bucannon has been attending practices as an observer recently because he’s suffering from turf toe. Bucannon was not moving well when Somers saw him at Thursday’s session and there’s no word on when Bucannon might be back in action.

A case of turf toe in June isn’t something that should linger into camp or the regular season, but Bucannon is still missing time that is vital for a quick transition to the professional ranks. Coach Bruce Arians has already pointed out some areas where Bucannon needs to improve and those improvements will only come with time and repetition on the field.

There’s a lot of time for that to happen before the start of the season and no reason for serious worry that it won’t at this point. That said, Arizona surely would like to see Bucannon back on the field sooner rather than later.