Meniscus Injury To Sideline Cardinals DT Kaleb Proctor; Latest On CB Garrett Williams
As the Cardinals transition to Mike LaFleur as head coach, they retained defensive coordinator Nick Rallis from the Jonathan Gannon period. Rallis’ unit has notable question marks along the defensive line, as the jury is still out on recent first-rounders Walter Nolen and Darius Robinson.
Arizona, which lost Calais Campbell in free agency, made another investment in the position early in the fourth round by selecting Southeastern Louisiana’s Kaleb Proctor. The No. 104 overall pick, though, may not be healthy when the the Cardinals open their season. LaFleur said (via Cards Wire’s Howard Balzer) Proctor suffered a torn meniscus during OTAs.
LaFleur did not rule out this being a season-ending injury. Proctor, among a handful of players from this draft class to not yet sign a rookie contract, was a consensus Division I-FCS All-American in 2025. He finished with nine sacks to become the Southland Conference’s Player of the Year. He was the first FCS player drafted this year.
The Cardinals saw Nolen run into multiple injuries derailing his rookie season. A calf injury suffered during offseason workouts sidelined the 2025 first-rounder until Week 8, and he suffered a season-ending knee injury two months later.
Nolen, who underwent surgery late last season, played just six games as a rookie. Robinson, meanwhile, finished his second season as Pro Football Focus’ lowest-graded interior D-lineman (among 127 regulars). Campbell rejoined the Ravens in free agency, though the Cardinals did bring back Roy Lopez after his Lions season. The team also signed Andrew Billings and Jonah Williams (not the two-year Arizona RT), but Proctor was the only D-lineman the team drafted this year.
Elsewhere on the Cardinals’ defense, Garrett Williams is rehabbing an Achilles tear suffered in Week 16. Arizona’s primary slot cornerback over the past three seasons, Williams played 10 games in 2025. He underwent surgery late in the season and is on track to return by Week 1, LaFleur added (via AZCardinals.com’s Darren Urban).
Williams is expected to be back during training camp, per LaFleur, who places Week 1 as a realistic goal. This would be a welcome development for all parties, as Williams — a 2023 third-rounder — has logged at least a 75% snap share on defense over the past two seasons. The Syracuse product, who ranked as PFF’s No. 3 overall corner in 2024, is entering a contract year. The Cards do not much in the way of known commodities at corner, so having Williams back to open the season would be a nice bonus as Rallis attempts to revive a defense that ranked 31st last season.
QB Jacoby Brissett Will Report To Cardinals’ Minicamp
JUNE 9: Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated writes Brissett is expected to primarily take part in individual drills this week since it will allow Minshew to continue leading the offense in full team work (as he has through voluntary practices). It will be interesting to see if Brissett manages to gain traction on the negotiating front this summer or if a lack of involvement in the offseason limits his leverage.
JUNE 8: Jacoby Brissett was absent through the voluntary portion of the Cardinals’ offseason program. No contract resolution has been reached in this case, but attendance for mandatory work is expected.
Brissett will report to the team for this week’s mandatory minicamp, ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss and Jeremy Fowler report. Doing so will ensure he avoids fines which are guaranteed for any players who skip out on the June practices. The extent to which Brissett will participate over the coming days is still unclear, to no surprise.
[RELATED: Marvin Harrison Jr. Not Fully Recovered From 2025 Injuries]
Throughout the spring, the veteran quarterback has sought a contract adjustment reflecting his status as Arizona’s 2026 starter. The Cardinals added Gardner Minshew in free agency and drafted Carson Beck in the third round, but Brissett is set to begin the coming season atop the depth chart. As things stand, the 33-year-old is set to earn $4.88MM in salary on the final year of his deal; $1.5MM of that figure is guaranteed.
As of May, negotiations on an extension between Brissett and the Cardinals had not yielded much in the way of progress. Weinfuss and Fowler add an agreement is not expected to be finalized in time for the start of minicamp. Brissett’s attendance will therefore ensure fines of up to $108K will not be coming his way, but it is unlikely to lead to a breakthrough on the contract front.
Filling in for an injured Kyler Murray midway through the 2025 season, Brissett stabilized Arizona’s offense and remained the team’s QB1 even when Murray was healthy. The former No. 1 pick was expectedly released this spring, positioning the Cardinals to pursue a new starter in the 2027 draft. Brissett’s track record in the NFL will make it challenging to secure any notable bumps in pay or new term on his deal, but his pact being worth less than Minshew’s would represent an awkward arrangement heading into the season.
This situation could still result in a trade being worked out, although a strong market does not exist for Brissett. His status will remain worth watching closely as the summer unfolds with the Cardinals’ next steps still unclear.
Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr. Not Fully Recovered From 2025 Injuries
Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr. missed five games last season due to a variety of ailments and ended the year on injured reserve. The 2024 No. 3 pick revealed at last week’s OTAs (via ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss) that he is not yet at 100%, calling it “an ongoing process still.”
Harrison, 23, suffered a concussion and a bout of appendicitis in 2025, but indicated that heel injuries to both feet suffered at the end of the year were the lingering issue. He does not expect the problem to extend into the 2026 season.
The former Ohio State Buckeye and son of Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison Sr. has not lived up to his pre-draft billing as one of the best receiver prospects in recent memory. He was dominant in back-to-back All-American campaigns to close his college career with 2,474 receiving yards (99.0 per game) and 29 total touchdowns. But in his first two NFL seasons, Harrison has amassed just 1,493 receiving yards (51.5 per game), and his eight rookie touchdowns were cut in half last year.
Harrison has also been somewhat limited by the Cardinals’ quarterback situation. Kyler Murray showed in 2024 that he was fully back from his 2022 torn ACL, but he struggled to hit a rhythm with his star rookie receiver. Last year, the two demonstrated a much-improved connection before Murray went down with a foot injury that ultimately ended his season. Backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett averaged 280.5 yards per game over the rest of the season, but most of that yardage went to Trey McBride and Michael Wilson. Harrison, meanwhile, had as many games under 40 receiving yards as he did over in his six games before getting shut down.
Brissett is currently slated to continue as Arizona’s starter in 2026, but he has been seeking a raise to reflect that. The team has thus far been unwilling to play ball with veteran Gardner Minshew and third-round pick Carson Beck also in their quarterback room. They may have high hopes for Beck, but at the moment, none of the three profile as long-term franchise quarterbacks that can get the most out of Harrison.
Cardinals OLB Josh Sweat Reports For Mandatory Minicamp
As was the case with disgruntled quarterback Jacoby Brissett, Cardinals outside linebacker Josh Sweat reported for mandatory minicamp on Monday, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Skipping Day 1 would have subjected Sweat to a $17,986 fine. The total amount for missing all three days checks in at $107,911.
Like Brissett, Sweat was not in attendance for the voluntary portion of the Cardinals’ offseason. That was also the case in 2025, the start of the four-year, $76.4MM contract the ex-Eagle signed in free agency. However, with Sweat now drawing trade interest, there has been speculation he could be on the way out of Arizona soon.
When Sweat hit the open market in March 2025 and chose the Cardinals as his next team, head coach Jonathan Gannon was at the helm. Sweat previously played for Gannon, then the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, from 2021-22. The two have a good rapport, but their second partnership ended when the Cardinals fired Gannon in January and replaced him with Mike LaFleur.
Gannon landed on his feet as the Packers’ defensive coordinator, leading to speculation that they will swing a trade for Sweat. Although Rapoport reported last week that the Cardinals are not dealing Sweat to the Pack or anyone else, Albert Breer of SI.com isn’t ruling out a trade. It is easy to see the fit in Green Bay, which will go without superstar edge defender Micah Parsons for the first several weeks of the season as he recovers from a torn ACL. While there are other contenders that would make sense as Sweat suitors, it is far from a given Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort will part with his best pass rusher.
Ossenfort’s three-year tenure in Arizona has not gone well, evidenced by the team’s dismal 15-36 record, but making a free agent splash on Sweat has worked out. After tallying between six and 11 sacks in each of his last five seasons in Philadelphia, the one-time Pro Bowler notched a career-high 12 in his first year in Arizona. Sweat played his second 17-game season and chipped in 30 tackles (13 TFL), 17 QB hits and a personal-best four forced fumbles. If he opens 2026 with the Cardinals and continues to offer strong production over the first couple months of the season, it is likely teams will come knocking ahead of the Nov. 3 trade deadline.
Along with his quality production, Sweat’s team-friendly contract adds to his appeal. The 29-year-old ranks a reasonable 22nd at his position in average annual salary, and he has no guaranteed money left on his deal beyond the upcoming season.
Cardinals Not Planning Josh Sweat Trade?
JUNE 6: While the Cardinals gave Albert Breer of SI.com an emphatic “no” when he asked prior to this year’s draft if they would trade Sweat, Breer says he would not rule out a deal. Given Gannon’s presence in Green Bay, Breer believes the Packers remain a viable landing spot, particularly if Gannon does not believe he can help former first-rounder Lukas Van Ness start living up to his draft status.
JUNE 3: One season into a four-year, $76.4MM contract, Cardinals outside linebacker Josh Sweat has drawn trade interest this spring. However, it appears those teams will have to look elsewhere for pass-rushing help. The Cardinals are not dealing Sweat, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.
After coming off the board in the fourth round of the 2018 draft, Sweat spent his first seven seasons in Philadelphia. He broke out as a starter from 2021-22, Jonathan Gannon‘s two-year run as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, and continued to perform well after Gannon left to become the Cardinals’ head coach.
Sweat capped off his Eagles tenure with a 2.5-sack outburst in a Super Bowl LIX victory over the Chiefs in February 2025. Hitting free agency a few weeks later enabled Sweat to reunite with Gannon in Arizona, but their second partnership lasted just one year. The Cardinals fired Gannon in January on the heels of a 4-13 season, though new head coach Mike LaFleur retained defensive coordinator Nick Rallis.
Gannon is now the Packers’ D-coordinator, which has sparked social media rumors that they will swing a trade for Sweat. It might make sense for a team that will likely open the season without elite edge defender Micah Parsons, who is rehabbing from the tore ACL he suffered last December. But Rapoport dumped freezing cold water on the possibility, writing on X: “#AZCardinals edge rusher Josh Sweat is not being traded. Not to the #Packers or anywhere.”
Sweat has stayed away from Cardinals OTAs, but that was also the case when Gannon was in charge last year. LaFleur is unconcerned. He spoke highly of Sweat last week, saying (via Grant Gordon of NFL.com): “I’m just excited about the fact that I don’t have to game plan against this guy. I got to know him when I first got this job. He’s a good dude. He goes about his process and he’s not the first guy to go about his process the way he is in terms of how he’s training and all that.”
As a member of one of the NFL’s worst teams in 2025, Sweat was a rare bright spot. He put together his second 17-game season and tallied career highs in sacks (12) and forced fumbles (four). Despite his efforts, the Cardinals tied for the third-fewest sacks in the league (30). While his importance to their defense is obvious, they are expected to remain among the league’s bottom feeders in 2026. With that in mind, there is a case general manager Monti Ossenfort should seriously consider trading Sweat this summer. It seems Ossenfort, whose job may be on the line, is in no hurry to do so.
Perhaps the Cardinals will be more open to moving Sweat around the Nov. 3 trade deadline if they are out of the playoff race and contenders come calling. With an affordable $9.78MM base salary coming his way in 2026, Sweat’s contract adds to his value. His deal does not include any guarantees past the upcoming season.
Cardinals Release K Joshua Karty, Sign S Isaiah Oliver
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.
Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett Continues Holdout
Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett has made it abundantly clear that he wants an adjusted contract to reflect his status as the team’s starter for the 2026 season.
He skipped Arizona’s first two weeks of OTAs hoping to spur some movement in negotiations, but the team has been unwilling to play ball thus far. Brissett is not at the Cardinals’ final week of OTAs, either, per ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss, with just one week to go until mandatory minicamp.
Brissett is set to earn just $4.88MM in base salary this season with an additional $510k in per-game roster bonuses. He can also earn $1MM for playing 50% of the Cardinal’s offensive snaps and another $1MM for hitting 65%. That is the lowest compensation of any starting quarterback not on a rookie contract. Geno Smith, Kyler Murray, and Tua Tagovailoa are earning less from their current teams, but they are also receiving significant sums from their former clubs.
The Cardinals may have misplayed their hand by making Brissett their presumed starter so early in the year. His grievance may be further compounded by the fact that Arizona signed Gardner Minshew to a $5.75MM deal this offseason to be his backup. The team drafted Carson Beck in the third round of April’s draft, giving them a third option, but new head coach Mike LaFleur prefers the incumbent. However, Brissett now clearly believes he has enough leverage to squeeze a raise out of general manager Monti Ossenfort.
Arizona has over $35MM in cap space, per OverTheCap, so they have the funds to bump Brissett’s pay. But agreeing on a dollar figure may be difficult. The 33-year-old does not profile as the Cardinals’ long-term signal-caller and seems closer to a stopgap option as the team figures out their future at the position – which could include Beck. Kirk Cousins and Justin Fields are on one-year placeholder deals worth roughly $11MM, which would seem like an appropriate raise for Brissett.
But the Cardinals could simply call his bluff and move forward with Minshew and Beck taking most of the practice reps – as they have been this spring – and competing for the starting job. Brissett could continue holding out into next week’s minicamp, which would result in just under $108k in fines if he misses all three days.
Given Arizona’s financial resources, it should be easy enough to come to a resolution. No other team is offering Brissett a starting job, either, and a decade into his career, he is unlikely to receive many similar chances in the future. Staying away from the team until training camp also runs the risk that Minshew or Beck can impress LaFleur enough to unseat Brissett, in which case he would certainly not get a raise.
It is worth noting that OTAs are purely voluntary, and a 10-year veteran like Brissett may prefer to manage his own offseason – though the ongoing installation of LaFleur’s new offense is a major reason to show up. He has never played in an offense orchestrated by a former Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay lieutenant, so there will still be plenty to learn in the new scheme.
In the past, showing up at mandatory minicamp after skipping OTAs has been seen as a good-faith gesture on the player’s part and a sign of progress in contract talks. Brissett’s presence next week will therefore be a key indicator of how things stand between him and the Cardinals.
Cardinals OLB Josh Sweat Drawing Trade Interest
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.
Brian Flores Amends Complaint Against NFL, Subpoenas 31 Teams
Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores* recently amended his lawsuit against the NFL and six of its teams to include a Title VII claim, and now he has amended it again. Per Daniel Kaplan of Front Office Sports, Flores has added a new retaliation count.
The nature of the allegation is presently unclear, but based on the NFL’s response, it appears Flores is arguing the league’s effort to enforce the arbitration provisions in its contracts is itself retaliatory. If that’s the case, sports attorney Chris Deubert tells Kaplan it “makes no sense,” and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk concedes it will be difficult to prove.
Nonetheless, Flores has scored a series of key wins in this long-running saga, and he is striking while the iron is hot. The trial court has allowed his claims against all six teams (the Giants, Broncos, Texans, Dolphins, Titans, and Cardinals) to proceed to trial rather than remain in the NFL’s arbitration system, and the trial court has also allowed the case to move forward as normal even as the NFL seeks United States Supreme Court review of that issue.
Allowing the case to move forward includes lifting the stay on discovery, so in addition to the amended complaint, Flores has subpoenaed 31 of the NFL’s 32 teams, as Kaplan details (presumably, only the Vikings have not been subpoenaed). ESPN’s Kris Rhim adds Flores has served more than 1,000 discovery requests, which the league has argued are punishingly overbroad.
“They’re obviously going scorched-earth,” Deubert said. “Presuming he’s asking about their employment hiring practices and policies, and even that can be difficult to just to respond to. … But those teams are probably going to object to the subpoenas, probably collectively through the league-friendly counsel, and say it’s not relevant, and there’ll be an interesting sort of fight there.”
The defendants will file a motion to dismiss in response to the latest amended complaint. As Rhim notes, the deadline for that is June 5. Pretrial briefs are due in late July/early August. A trial date likely will not be set until after the court rules on the motions to dismiss.
*Steve Wilks and Ray Horton are Flores’ co-plaintiffs, but for ease of reading, we will simply use Flores’ name when referring to the plaintiffs’ side of this matter.
NFC Staff Updates: Falcons, Cardinals, Panthers, 49ers, Cowboys
With the draft in the rearview, new Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham has gotten to work reshaping the front office staff to his liking. To that effect, Atlanta has hired Keith Earle as a mid-Atlantic area scout, per Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports. Earle’s first taste of NFL work came as a camp intern in player personnel for the Eagles in 2021. After a similar internship in Chicago the next year, Earle was hired on as a scouting assistant in the first year of Ryan Poles‘ tenure as GM. He spent the past two seasons as the midlands area scout for the Bears but has now followed Cunningham to Atlanta for his new gig.
Thanks to Neil Stratton of SucceedInFootball.com, we also learn that the new title in Atlanta for Justin Hickman will be national scout. After the conclusion of a playing career that took him through the NFL and CFL, Hickman has gained some uniquely vast experience working as an XFL executive, an analyst at Pro Football Focus, a coach, and until recently, an area scout with the Patriots. Earle and Hickman could just be the start as the front office begins to reflect the new GM.
Here are a few other staff updates from around the NFL:
- In Arizona, the Cardinals have promoted one new staffer and said goodbye to another. According to Stratton, Alfonza Knight has been promoted to assistant director, college scouting. After initial NFL jobs as an equipment intern for the Titans and a staffer with the Senior Bowl, Knight first joined the Cardinals as a scouting assistant in 2014, getting promoted to NFS scout in 2017 and spending the last eight years as an area scout. Leaving the front office, per Stratton, is veteran scout Chris Culmer. Starting as a scouting intern for the Seahawks in 2000, Culmer worked his way up to scouting assistant and pro scout over nearly nine years in Seattle. He stayed within the division with his next job, joining the Cardinals as a west area scout. He was promoted to director college scouting for a couple years but has spent the last 12 seasons as a western regional scout.
- On the coaching side of things, the Panthers awarded a promotion this week to a member of their defensive staff, per Joe Person of The Athletic. Linebackers coach Pete Hansen has had the moniker of assistant defensive coordinator added to his title. After going from strength and conditioning coach to defensive assistant at Stanford in 2009, Hansen first dipped his toe in the NFL waters as a defensive assistant/quality control coach with the nearby 49ers. After rejoining the Cardinal as an inside linebackers coach for six years and working as defensive coordinator at UNLV for two, Hansen got his first NFL position coaching gig as a linebackers coach for the Broncos in 2022. The fast-rising assistant has earned his new title after three seasons in Carolina.
- Moving towards analytics, ESPN’s Seth Walder reported this week that the 49ers will no longer employ R&D analyst Meredith Manley after she opted to leave following the conclusion of her contract with the team. Manley worked in the role for the past four years following a three-year stint as a football analytics assistant in Arizona.
- Lastly, the Cowboys have hired a new pair of strategic football fellows, per Walder. Nick Fullerton is taking the fellowship after previously working as a research analyst at NFL Next Gen Stats. Vincent Etherton will be the other new fellow following his time as a data analytics student assistant with the Princeton football team.