The Cardinals have brought an early end to the battle between kickers Joshua Karty and Chad Ryland. They released Karty on Thursday, per a team announcement. Arizona signed safety Isaiah Oliver in a corresponding move.
The Rams spent a 2024 sixth-round pick on Karty, a Stanford product who impressed as a rookie. Karty converted 29 of 34 field goals and 32 of 36 extra points then, but his production declined during a rough 2025 for the Rams’ special teams unit. He missed five of his 15 field goal tries and went 23 of 26 on extra points over eight games, leading the Rams to elevate kicker Harrison Mevis from their practice squad in Week 10.
Mevis thrived after his promotion and never gave the job back to Karty, whom the Rams cut in late November. While they brought him back a few days later as a member of their practice squad, the Cardinals signed him away on Dec. 23. Karty did not get into either of the Cardinals’ last two games, but they retained him as an exclusive rights free agent.
Barring another outside addition, the Cardinals will continue with Ryland, who re-signed on a one-year deal in March. The former Patriot has made just 76.7% of field goals during his three-year career, though he has converted 86 of 88 extra points. He nailed all 36 PATs in 2025.
The 6-foot, 202-pound Oliver entered the league in 2018 as a second-round pick of the Falcons. Oliver became a starter in his second season, but he has mostly worked as a backup since a knee injury limited him to four games in 2021. He stuck with the Falcons through 2022, left for the 49ers in 2023, and then spent the past two seasons with the Jets. As part of a New York defense that failed to intercept a pass in 2025, Oliver got into 14 games, made two starts and recorded 55 tackles. The 29-year-old’s season ended in mid-December as a result of a knee injury.
Overall, Oliver has totaled 110 appearances (53 starts), 42 passes defensed and three picks during his eight-year career. The Phoenix native will now try to earn a spot in a Budda Baker-led safety group that also includes Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, free agent pickup Andrew Wingard, Joey Blount, Kitan Crawford and undrafted rookie Wydett Williams Jr.
He hasn’t been the same since that magnificent Thicc Six from Jordan Davis at the Linc last year