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Offseason In Review: Arizona Cardinals

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2024 marked a year for improvements in Arizona. In the second year of the Jonathan Gannon–Monti Ossenfort regime, the head coach and general manager duo took a team that had finished last in the NFC West for two straight years and had given up the second-most points and most rushing yards on defense in 2023 and improved in every one of those facets. Seeing that the new leadership was having a positive effect and knowing that quarterback Kyler Murray is now well over two years removed from his late-2022 ACL injury, the Cardinals came into this offseason with a new plan.

With a 2024 salary cap carryover of $11.38MM and another cap increase by the league, Arizona entered the offseason with $71.33MM in cap space — good for the fourth-highest amount in the NFL — and a plan to utilize it. With the small caveat of having to shoulder Murray’s $43.33MM-cap hit — good for the fifth-highest such figure in the NFL — the Cardinals came out of 2024 looking to improve the roster with tons of new contracts for players both foreign (to the team) and domestic.

Extensions and restructures:

Early this offseason, the Cardinals expressed hope to sign their star tight end to an extension as soon as he became eligible. They got it done just two months after that report, making McBride the highest-paid tight end in NFL history (for a little less than four weeks, until George Kittle moved the market just past him).

McBride, 25, has proven to be more than worth the $19MM-per-year price tag after finishing just one catch (111) and 48 yards (1,146) short of matching the totals of the league’s leading tight end in both stats. The TE market remains south of the $20MM-per-year place, even as WR salaries are now past $40MM AAV, but McBride set the table for such a breakthrough after his strong third season.

Although frustrating fantasy GMs by catching only two touchdown passes last season, McBride has established himself as the most prolific receiving tight end in the Cardinals’ Arizona-years history. McBride’s past two seasons rank first and second for Cards TEs in single-season yardage since the team relocated to the desert in 1988. This contract ensures the Colorado State product will team with Marvin Harrison Jr. as the Cardinals’ top pass-catching weapons for the foreseeable future.

Part of McBride’s full guarantee comes via a $16.5MM signing bonus. The former second-round pick secured a fully guaranteed 2026 base salary, and the Cardinals used $7.5MM in option bonuses — in lieu of void years — to help keep his cap hits low. McBride will not be tied to a cap number higher than $9MM until 2027. McBride’s $1.88MM 2026 option bonus is guaranteed, while $3MM of his 2027 base salary locks in on Day 5 of the 2026 league year. Per Spotrac, the other $7.53MM of McBride’s 2027 base salary shifts from an injury guarantee to a full guarantee on Day 5 of the 2027 league year.

Free agency additions:

The area in which the Cards were most prepared to spend was in free agency, and the main focus was on a defense that, despite showing improvement in 2024, still had a long way to go in order to be considered an impressive unit. A defensive line last year that most often was comprised of L.J. Collier, Dante Stills, Roy Lopez, and Naquan Jones has been transformed into a unit led by a familiar face in Campbell, with Tomlinson, Sweat, and last year’s first-round pick, Darius Robinson, filling out the rest of the line.

Campbell spent the first nine years of his career in Glendale, and when he tested the free agency waters for the first time at 30 years old, he was a hot commodity. To Arizona’s credit, the team tried to retain the star lineman on a $9MM-per-year hometown discount back in 2017, and the Denver native even received a $13MM-per-year offer from his actual hometown Broncos team. Ultimately, he landed in Jacksonville — which promptly became known affectionately as “Sacksonville,” due in part to his presence — and gave the Jaguars three of the best years of his career.

Campbell was traded in 2020 to the Ravens, where he put forth three more decent campaigns, but injuries began to nag a bit when his time in Baltimore ended at 36 years old. Not one to bow to Father Time, though, Campbell played all 17 games in each of the past two seasons — 2023 with the Falcons, 2024 with the Dolphins — before heading back to the team that drafted him. The Cardinals, in fact, had attempted to reacquire him in the middle of the 2024 season.

Set to turn 39 Monday, Campbell has not posted double-digit sacks since his second year in Jacksonville. But he routinely grades as one of the strongest defensive linemen in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), and his leadership and community work are often considered second to none. Recent rumblings have revealed Campbell’s return to Arizona may include a swan song performance as he anticipates retiring after his 18th NFL season.

Joining Campbell on the line are top signees Sweat and Tomlinson. Sweat arrives in Arizona after seven years in Philadelphia, where he had established himself as a full-time starter after earning a three-year, $40MM extension and collected 43 sacks in his final six years with the team after going sackless as a rookie.

It became clear the Eagles were not going to be able to retain Sweat following their Super Bowl-winning campaign, and the 28-year-old switched his representation up in preparation to land a deal like the one he got with the Cardinals. PFR’s No. 2 overall free agent, Sweat dominated in Super Bowl LIX — with 2.5 sacks and a crucial second-quarter pressure that forced a Patrick Mahomes interception — to cement himself as a top-tier free agent. This will bring a reunion with Gannon, Sweat’s DC from 2021-22.

Tomlinson, on the other hand, found himself a surprise free agent after the Browns made him a cap casualty in the aftermath of making Myles Garrett the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL (at the time). Tomlinson, 31, had been midway through his third NFL contract after playing out his rookie deal with the Giants and spending two years in Minnesota. Per PFF, his first season in Cleveland was a down year for the veteran, but he recovered quite well in 2024.

Before becoming a Brown, though, Tomlinson routinely graded out as a top-25 interior defensive lineman in the NFL. The new one-two of Campbell and Tomlinson in the middle with Sweat and Robinson on the ends should make for a formidable new-look unit.

The team’s linebacking corps also got some renovations. Deciding to move on from the Kyzir White experience, the Cardinals added a budding Davis-Gaither to the group. Davis-Gaither spent the first four years of his career as a rotational player with the Bengals, starting only four games in 54 appearances. More was asked of Davis-Gaither at the end of last season, though, when an injury to Logan Wilson forced him into the starting lineup for the final six games. The team’s current depth charts indicate that Davis-Gaither may retain a starting role in his first year with the Cardinals.

The team made relatively very few moves on offense when looking at external free agents, deciding instead to focus their efforts on bodies in the building already, as we’ll visit in later sections. One spot in which the team figured it could make a significant improvement was at backup quarterback.

When Murray suffered his ACL injury two years ago, the two backup quarterbacks, Joshua Dobbs and Clayton Tune, went a combined 1-8 to open the 2023 season. Luckily for Arizona, Murray started every game last season, but it seems the Cardinals still felt a need to find a more experienced, successful option than the former fifth-round pick out of Houston.

Brissett seems to be the latest entry into the journeyman emergency starter archetype. Like those who came before him — Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh McCown, Vinny Testaverde — he comes to town with multiple years of experience as a full-time starter and double-digit starts for the Browns and/or Jets.

While it is true that Brissett has never finished a season with more starts won than lost, the 32-year-old is a composed professional that rarely throws the ball to the other team. When your star quarterback is out for any reason, being able to minimize mistakes becomes a crucial part of winning games. Regardless, Arizona will hope it doesn’t see much of its new $6.25MM-per-year asset.

One area on the defense the team failed to improve through free agency was at cornerback. While Garrett Williams earned much acclaim for his performance in the slot, the outside group of corners was pretty average. A season-ending knee injury in May for returning starter Sean Murphy-Bunting put a scare into the team, then a torn ACL for the other returning starter, Starling Thomas, exacerbated concerns (more on that below) at the position even more three weeks ago.

Very early in the offseason, the Cardinals kicked the tires on former Chargers starting cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., who’s coming off an injury of his own. No contract emerged from the visit, but Samuel remains unsigned to this day. At the moment, though, it appears Arizona will be content with the help it obtained at the position through the draft.

Re-signings:

When Ossenfort and Co. looked at the free agent market, they saw a lot of players they liked who wore the same logo they did. The front office then got busy re-signing several key players from last year’s team.

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On the offensive line, 2024 saw another strong season from center Hjalte Froholdt and a phenomenal first season on the blind side by Paris Johnson Jr. After winning the starting job in camp, Brown held his own in his first season as a full-time left guard starter, and the versatile interior veteran earned another two years under contract, as a result.

A knee injury in 2024 to last year’s biggest free agent addition, right tackle Jonah Williams, forced Beachum back into a starting role he had lost in 2023, and the returning backup tackle also earned another year of work for his efforts. This will be Beachum’s 14th NFL season.

The right guard position was thrown into disarray when Hernandez followed Williams onto injured reserve with a season-ending ACL tear. When the veteran guard received medical clearance, he did so as a free agent — his injury having occurred in a contract year. The team seemed to be moving on from Hernandez, with Isaiah Adams initially poised to win the right guard job after starting the final five games of last season at the position as a third-round rookie.

Ultimately, the team met with Hernandez to consider a reunion and re-signed him the next day, giving Arizona a potential starting five of Johnson-Brown-Froholdt-Hernandez-Williams with Beachum and Adams providing some extremely competent depth. Hernandez started his training camp on the active/PUP list, though, so Adams has had some time to push for a starting role. Hernandez was activated from the PUP list just before roster cuts, but he may still have to prove he’s healthy enough to start in front of Adams.

Also on offense, the Cardinals gave Jones a slight raise after an ineffective Year 1 with the team. The veteran receiver — who tallied an 82-catch, 823-yard, five-touchdown campaign for the Jaguars in 2022 — will certainly be expected to contribute more than the eight catches for 84 yards he put up in 2024. His start with the team, coming off a release from Jacksonville, was delayed by a five-game suspension, and he never recovered from the late start to put himself into a major offensive role. In Year 2 with the Cardinals, Jones will likely run as WR3 behind Harrison and Michael Wilson.

On defense, most of the contracts went to players from other teams, but Arizona did decide to bring back Browning and Collier on new deals. Despite Browning not receiving the opportunity to showcase much of his abilities coming off of a midyear trade from the Broncos, the Cardinals had their reasons for acquiring him, and those reasons likely led to his new two-year deal.

Browning had been seeking a starting role in Denver that he was not likely to get, and it seems Arizona was willing to give the former third-round pick more of a shot at one. They made it clear shortly after the season that they did not intend for him to be a half-season rental.

A former first-round pick out of TCU,Collier had not enjoyed much success since his only season as a full-time starter back in 2020. But he made a slight resurgence in 2024. Starting 15 of 17 Cardinals games, Collier tallied career highs in sacks (3.5) and tackles (29) while adding four tackles for loss and six QB hits for Arizona. The ex-Seahawk likely won’t return to a starting role due to the influx of talent on the line in free agency, but the Cardinals appreciated his contributions last year enough to bring him back on another deal.

Brewer, the longest-tenured member of the team since Larry Fitzgerald‘s retirement, has spent the last nine seasons as the Cardinals’ long snapper and will continue in that role for at least one more year. The team played a little roster Jenga at the 53-man deadline, cutting him so they could place defensive tackle Justin Jones on IR and sign Brewer back two days later. The 35-year-old has been playing on renewed one-year deals since 2022.

Notable losses:

Seemingly confirmed by the names they signed, the Cardinals appeared more than willing to let several members of their 2024 defense walk in free agency. White played the second-most snaps last season of anyone on Arizona’s defense, but his being a liability in coverage made it an easier decision for Arizona, White remains on the market today. Lopez gave the Cardinals two decent seasons of, mostly, starting play after being waived by Houston. Like the team that drafted him, though, Arizona was fine letting him test the waters, and he landed in Detroit on a one-year, $3.5MM deal.

That was actually the largest contract any departing Arizona free agent landed, and no one earned a multiyear deal, either. Tonga, Gardeck, and Jones, three rotation players on last year’s defensive line, all earned one-year deals with the Patriots, Jaguars, and Chargers, respectively, on deals all worth $2.1MM or less. It was more of the same on offense as Colon landed just a one-year, $1.27MM deal in Detroit with Lopez after factoring in heavily amidst last year’s right guard issues.

On special teams, the Cardinals dismissed two veterans for younger options. Prater’s age-40 season was derailed when he was placed on IR after only four games, and it wasn’t uncovered until December that he had been working his way back from meniscus surgery to the knee on his plant leg. In Prater’s absence, the team relied on Chad Ryland, who had been waived by the Patriots after they drafted him in the 2023 fourth round.

Ryland was made available due to an abysmal rookie year in which he missed two kicks from inside 40 yards, five kicks from inside 50 yards, and two more from 50-plus yards. Ryland was put into an offseason kicking competition with Joey Slye and waived in Patriots final roster cuts after failing to win the job last year. He landed a second chance in Arizona, though, and made the most of it, converting 87.5% of his field goal attempts and going 4-for-4 from 50-plus yards. Ryland is now Arizona’s full-time kicker.

Palardy’s time in Arizona was the complete opposite of Prater’s last year. The 33-year-old lefty punter was brought in for the final four games of the season as regular punter Blake Gillikin was dealing with an ankle injury on his kicking leg. With Gillikin under contract for another year, there was no need to bring Palardy back.

Draft:

The leadup to the 2025 NFL Draft held plenty of intrigue around Arizona. In a first round that saw several teams itching to trade back, the Cardinals’ No. 16 overall pick seemed to be among the most likely targets for other clubs looking to move up. It was believed that, since the Cardinals were set to enter the draft with the third-fewest draft picks (six) of all 32 clubs, they would be open to listening to offers that could increase their draft capital. Throw in the fact that the Bengals were expected to be aiming for a pass rusher a pick later, and some thought teams who could be worried that Cincinnati would take their desired pass rusher would be dying to trade into Arizona’s slot.

Intrigue continued as many speculated at which positions of need may be targeted first. Early sources indicated that pass rushers could be targeted, while later suggestions seemed to point to offensive line or wide receiver. Even before all that, though, the team had met with Johnson and Nolen, who were destined to join the team weeks later.

Nolen was the first to come off the board, proving that the Cardinals prioritized his addition to the team over accumulating more draft picks, though they would end up adding one draft pick later on. A day before the draft, Arizona found out about the Murphy-Bunting injury, and while Johnson had projected as a top-10 pick at one point, injury concerns allowed the Cardinals to pursue Nolen first and catch Johnson as their next priority in Round 2.

All the picks seem to uniquely fit the Cardinals’ current and future situation. Nolen missed a lot of training camp with injuries and will start his rookie year on the reserve/PUP list, but the team likely has no plans to rush him onto the field. With linemen, it can often be worthwhile to bring them up slowly anyway, and Nolen will get to learn as much as he can from Campbell before he retires, at which Nolen filling the new starting role can be a seamless transition.

Johnson and Burke are other examples of perfect fits for now and later as they help fill out a desperately thinned secondary with potential for bigger roles in the future. The same is essentially true of the other draft picks, as well; none are expected to come in and start Week 1, but all are in positions to make an impact at positions that need it. While they may not make up the majority of snaps in 2025, this group could feature numerous starters by 2026 or 2027.

Other:

Luckily, the Cardinals avoided too much turnover on their coaching staff. Though, they weren’t completely spared. After serving two seasons as Arizona’s O-line coach, Adams took over as the Cowboys’ OC. Frye is making his NFL coaching debut, replacing Adams after coaching lines at Temple, Boston College, UCLA, and Ohio State. He also served as Bruins offensive coordinator for three seasons.

Petzing was among the first to interview for the open job in Chicago that ended up with former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson winning the job. Woolfork didn’t end up interviewing with the Bears, choosing instead to stay with Petzing in Arizona.

Elsewhere on the coaching staff, linebackers coach Sam Siefkes left to become the defensive coordinator for Virginia Tech, and defensive line coach Derrick LeBlanc‘s contract was allowed to expire. Joining them on the way out this summer was pass-game specialist Spencer Whipple, who became the Jaguars’ QBs coach. To replace them all, Winston DeLattiboudere and Cristian Garcia were hired to serve as defensive line and linebackers coaches, and Conner Senger was elevated from his quality control role to replace Whipple. Lastly, Matt Feeney was hired as a new OLBs coach.

While the front office avoided much turnover, Bidwill continued to appear in unfavorable headlines. The owner’s name made the rounds in February as a defendant in a civil suit with numerous allegations. In the summer, as details began to surface on the NFL ownership collusion scandal, Bidwill was once again front and center as leaked texts between him and another team owner (the Chargers’ Dean Spanos) appeared to show a shared initiative.

Moving to the players, following his ACL recovery, there were concerns on how Murray’s future would play out in Arizona. With all of the money on his contract that was fully guaranteed at signing being paid out, the opportunity existed for the Cardinals to avoid paying other guarantees by releasing Murray from the team. The rolling guarantee structure the QB secured back in summer 2022 will once again benefit him.

On March 17, Murray was still on the roster; this status fully guaranteed his $19.5MM 2027 base salary as a $17MM 2026 90-man roster bonus. Murray is set to lead the team for a seventh season, as this offseason’s guarantee shifts also will make a 2027 separation tougher for the Cardinals. The two-time Pro Bowler, now 28, also revealed his desire to take more opportunities to tuck the ball and run more in 2025.

On defense, a couple of players suffered injuries that will significantly impact their campaigns. First, returning starting cornerback Murphy-Bunting suffered his aforementioned knee setback — one that led him to the reserve/NFI list in May — followed by Thomas’ own ACL tear two months later. Russell, a free agent LB addition this offseason, will miss his debut season in Arizona. He was carted off the field in a scary moment that saw him suffer a concussion in training camp, and the team placed him on IR with no designation to return.

Arizona’s cornerback contingent presently consists of Johnson, 2024 second-round pick Max Melton, slot cog Garrett Williams and expected backups Burke, 2024 third-round pick Elijah Jones and third-year performer Kei’Trel Clark. The team used Murphy-Bunting as a full-time starter last season, after having given the ex-Buccaneers and Titans regular a three-year, $25.5MM deal in March 2024. Thomas worked as a 15-game starter last year, logging a 75% snap rate on defense in his second season.

These losses will bring significant change for the Cards’ CB corps, with Johnson expected to play a central role as a rookie. As the team hopes the Michigan product can live up to his previous status as an expected first-round pick, Arizona’s corner crew will roll into the season with no players with more than two years’ worth of experience (and Jones spent his rookie year on IR). Although cornerback is a young man’s game, deploying a group with such little experience will be a storyline to monitor as Gannon’s third HC season begins.

Ultimately, only six Cardinals rookies made the initial 53-man roster out of the 13-man draft/UDFA class. One landed on IR (with a designation to return), another on the reserve/PUP list; two others made the practice squad.

Top 10 cap charges for 2025:

  1. Kyler Murray, QB: $43.33MM
  2. Jonah Williams, T: $16.06MM
  3. Jalen Thompson, S: $13.73MM
  4. Justin Jones, DT: $11.35MM
  5. Budda Baker, S: $10.82MM
  6. Trey McBride, TE: $9.57MM
  7. Marvin Harrison Jr., WR: $8.04MM
  8. Bilal Nichols, DT: $7.83MM
  9. Paris Johnson, T: $7.65MM
  10. Dalvin Tomlinson, DT: $7.64MM

It is hard to gauge what success would look like at the end of the 2025 season in Arizona. It’s fair to say that continued improvement is certainly expected, but it is difficult to predict just how much the upgrades on defense and maintenance of the offense will do amid an evolving NFL. Seattle and Los Angeles’ offseasons may not have seen as much improvement as Arizona’s, but a healthy San Francisco squad isn’t likely to finish at the bottom of the division again.

Ultimately, the Cardinals can only focus on the road in front of them, and with the sixth-easiest schedule in the NFL this year (based on last year’s records), Arizona has a chance to make a run for the playoffs for the first time since 2021. With very few key players in contract years in 2025, though, this could be a year that allows the team to judge just how close it is to contention in its third season under this leadership structure. That critical evaluation will help shape the outlook for 2026 as the franchise continues a journey toward hopeful Super Bowl contention under its current leadership structure.