Robert Alford‘s Cardinals tenure has come to an unceremonious end. Arizona has released the veteran cornerback, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
Alford signed a three-year, $22.5MM deal with the Cardinals in 2019, but will end his stint in the desert never having played in a game for them. He fractured a tibia in August of 2019 that cost him all of that season, and then tore a pec this past August which knocked him out for all of 2020. A second-round pick of Atlanta back in 2013, Alford spent the first six years of his career with the Falcons.
He was pretty durable during those years, playing at least 15 games in all but one season (10 in 2014). Unfortunately the injury bug has bit him hard, and he hasn’t suited up since the 2018 season when he started 15 games for the Falcons. A quality starter for a while, it’s anyone’s guess what he’ll look like now.
Alford turned 32 in November, and will likely struggle to find guaranteed money in a tough market coming off back to back season-ending injuries.
The release saves the Cardinals about $7.5MM in cap space for this season. As Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com points out in a tweet, this leaves the Cards with only one non-reserve/futures cornerback under contract for next season, 2019 second-rounder Byron Murphy.
I can’t ever think of a time when Alford was a quality starter, before the injuries or after. He does have experience though I suppose, so some team may give a non-guaranteed deal to see if he has some utility as a depth piece.