Josh Sweat delivered a productive first season with the Cardinals, but the team finished 3-14. Three years remain on Sweat’s contract, but teams are exploring the possibility of Arizona unloading it.
The Cardinals have received trade calls on Sweat, according to veteran insider Jordan Schultz. Although the Cards retained DC Nick Rallis — after multiple candidates dropped out of the running — Schultz adds Sweat is close with since-fired HC Jonathan Gannon. Sweat played under Gannon — now the Packers’ DC — in Philadelphia and rejoined him in Arizona last year.
Entering his age-29 season, Sweat is tied to a four-year deal worth $76.4MM. Sweat’s 2026 compensation is guaranteed, but no guarantees are in place beyond this year. The former Eagles standout is due $9.78MM in base salary this season, presenting an interesting opportunity for a Cardinals team that replaced Gannon with Mike LaFleur.
Sweat, however, is coming off a career-best season in the sack department after finishing with 12. The recent explosion on the edge rusher market also gives the Cardinals a bargain with Sweat, whose $19.1MM AAV is now less than a third of where Will Anderson Jr.‘s top-market AAV stands ($50MM). Arizona will surely set a high asking price.
The Cardinals also did not make a notable investment at edge rusher this offseason. The team passed on Arvell Reese at No. 3 overall, choosing Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love. Arizona did not draft an edge rusher and returns a modest Sweat supporting cast. The Cardinals have converted ILB Zaven Collins under contract to go with Baron Browning and BJ Ojulari. None has produced on the level of Sweat, who commanded a big-ticket free agency deal on the strength of a strong 2024 playoff showing that helped the Eagles win Super Bowl LIX.
With the Cardinals seemingly aiming to add a first-round quarterback in 2027, collecting additional assets would make sense in the event a team or multiple teams finish with worse records in 2026. Sending Sweat elsewhere would be a way to do so, though it would significantly deplete the team’s pass rush. The Vikings just collected two third-round picks from the Eagles for Jonathan Greenard, who is also entering an age-29 season (Minnesota had wanted a second-rounder). It is not known if Sweat wants a new contract, but it would not surprise based on where he is in the position’s updated pecking order 14-plus months after he signed his Arizona deal.
Sweat’s AAV ranks 22nd among edge rushers. Among those contracts above him, 14 were agreed to after his March 2025 Cardinals commitment. The ninth-year veteran (2.5 sacks in Super Bowl LIX) has also proven durable, not missing a game due to injury since 2020. That certainly strengthens Sweat’s trade value, though it is not known if the Cardinals are interested.
The same GM (Monti Ossenfort) is in place from Sweat’s signing, and he may well be on the hot seat after the team’s 3-14 finish in the exec’s third year atop the Arizona front office. Sweat’s name circulating this far in advance of the season will make him a player to monitor, with the Cardinals likely to entertain seller’s trades before the deadline. Though seller’s trades regularly include contract-year players, Sweat would be an appealing commodity due to his wildly team-friendly deal that runs through the 2028 season.
2nd rounder?
The challenge will be finding a contender with that much cap space. I was briefly picturing reuniting him with Gannon in Green Bay, but I don’t think they can afford him with restructuring somebody.
The Eagles have the cap space right now, plus will have additional cap space after moving AJ Brown.
The Eagles don’t need him, and I think you’re forgetting about the giant dead money hit from trading Brown.
Even if the Eagles move A.J. after June 1, that doesn’t mean they can’t afford Sweat. Post-June 1 trades are specifically used to manage dead cap, and edge rusher is still a premium position. The Eagles have manipulated the cap for years.
And saying “the Eagles don’t need him” ignores how important pass rush depth is in Vic Fangio-style defenses. You can never have too many edge rushers over a 17-game season. Injuries happen, rotations matter, and the Eagles’ entire identity has been built around dominating the trenches
Giant dead money hit?? Year? Amount?
source of your data?
Lol is you serious?
That’s the WHOLE reason they didn’t trade him before June 1st and are stupid to trade him now.
It was a $50 million or so dead cap hit that after June 1st becomes like $25 million each the next two seasons.
It would be a trade an then a new deal. So that they can lower the base pay to fit under a contenders salary cap this year..
Packers comfortably have the space without restructuring anyone, they’ve $18m right now.
What a miserable franchise. Why do people even buy tickets to watch the Cards?
Not much else to do in Phoenix
He can come back to Philly..
We don’t need him.
I’d much rather see what Hunt and Nolan Smith can do.
He can take smith’s snaps as far as I’m concerned. I remain underwhelmed by him
Well Sweat was extremely underwhelming early in his career and is a one trick pony who can’t stop the run.
It’s a good thing you’re not running the team.
Smith will be gone after this year! Hunt is a better player with more upside…..and they will not be able to keep both!
“We don’t need him. I’d much rather see what Hunt and Nolan Smith can do.” That’s hilarious when Sweat had more sacks last year than both of them combined. That’s like saying “We don’t need rent money, my toddler has a lemonade stand”. Lol
It’s very obvious some of you didn’t pay much attention to how one dimensional and inconsistent Sweat was as an Eagle.
He can’t stop the run. At all. He can’t set the edge. He gets fooled and beaten constantly by any kind of movement or shifts. He’s a one dimensional pass rusher.
Give me Smith and Hunt over him any day of the week because at least they both have the potential to be more than that.
It’s literally not like that at all. His sack numbers have always been inconsistent, and sacks are far from everything.
Calling him “one dimensional” is doing a lot of work for a take that doesn’t match what’s actually happened on the field.
Josh Sweat has never been a pure edge-setting run defender prototype, but saying he “can’t set the edge at all” is just flatly overstated. He’s been part of some of the better defensive fronts in the league precisely because he can hold up enough vs the run while still winning on the edge in passing situations. If he were truly getting washed every snap against the run, he wouldn’t have stayed on the field in base and sub packages for years under multiple coordinators.
The “sack inconsistency = he’s just a one-trick pass rusher” argument is also backwards. Sacks are volatile year to year, especially for edge rushers who win with pressure, not clean wins. Sweat’s value has largely been in pressure rate, disruption, and forcing QBs off their spot, which doesn’t always show up neatly in sack totals. That’s why teams keep rolling him out there. The pressure is real even when the finish fluctuates.
On your “gets fooled by movement and shifts” claim? Thats just what you say when you’re cherry-picking bad reps. Every edge defender gets manipulated by motion and formation changes. The difference is whether they recover and still affect the play. Sweat’s tape shows plenty of that recovery and effort-to-finish.
And comparing him to Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt as if it’s a proven upgrade is premature. Those guys are still projection-based: traits, flashes, upside. Sweat is the known commodity who’s already produced at a high level in meaningful games, including postseason pressure. He was the MVP of that Super Bowl.
I pay plenty of attention. I just don’t cherry pick lazy, untrue narratives for argument sake.
I guess Brandon Beane is out golfing
A trade of Josh would be NO SWEAT for the Cardinals.