- While Clemson may have capitalized on Isaiah Simmons’ versatility, it sounds like the Cardinals have other plans. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury will allow the eighth-overall pick to solely focus on one position. “His ability to play so many positions and not really having a chance to focus on one, we just think the sky could be the limit for what he can be if we really lock him in one position for the majority of the time,” Kingsbury said (via Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com). Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph previously hinted that Simmons could end up spending most of his time at linebacker.
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the day:
Baltimore Ravens
- Waived: WR Sean Modster
Arizona Cardinals
- Re-signed: CB Kevin Peterson
- Waived: CB Andre Chachere
On this date in 2017, the Cardinals released linebacker Daryl Washington. This wasn’t the first time a player with a Pro Bowl pedigree was released, and it won’t be the last, but this transaction was notable for a different reason. At this point, Washington had not played a single down of football since the final week of the 2013 season. 
[RELATED: This Date In Transactions History: Cardinals Sign Josh Rosen]
Washington racked up an eye-popping 134 tackles in 2012, including nine sacks. And, in 2013, he was still reasonably productive with 75 tackles and three sacks in 12 games. Unfortunately, he made more headlines for his repeated bans and mishaps. Washington was suspended for four games in 2013, then was banned for all of 2014 after yet another substance abuse violation. He was also arrested in the ’13 offseason on two counts of aggravated assault against his one-time spouse.
A few years later, when Washington was finally reinstated by the league, the Cardinals were not interested in a reunion, even though he was still only 30 years old at the time. When Arizona rejected the TCU product, he went on a public campaign to stir up interest from the Cowboys.
“Why not be a Cowboy?” Washington said. “I’m settled in here. It’s home. Let’s try to get one this year. Come on Mr. [Jerry] Jones, you’ll be glad you took a chance on me. We’ll hold up that Lombardi Trophy together.”
Mr. Jones has taken his fair share of gambles before, but he wasn’t interested in Mr. Washington. We haven’t heard much from Washington since, and it’s unlikely that we’ll see him on the field again.
Two years ago, the Cardinals inked their quarterback of the future. At least, they hoped they were getting their quarterback of the future when they signed No. 10 overall pick Josh Rosen. 
[RELATED: No. 1 Pick Joe Burrow On His Contract]
The Cardinals’ quarterback search was an open secret, one that dragged for years. In 2017, they tried and failed to trade up for Patrick Mahomes – who went No. 10 overall to the Chiefs – leading them to settle for Haason Reddick at No. 13. This time around, they didn’t want to walk out of the 2018 draft with “what-ifs,” so they traded up from No. 15 to the No. 10 pick for Rosen, a promising young passer out of UCLA. .
Most evaluators viewed Rosen as the most polished and most NFL-ready passer in the entire class. There was a lot to like, especially after Rosen threw for 59 touchdowns over the course of three college seasons and saved his best for last. As a junior, Rosen turned in the best TD/INT ratio of his career (26/10) and his best completion rate (62.5%).
Rosen’s talent was apparent – he didn’t have a cannon for an arm, but his technique and footwork were virtually flawless. He was also an all around bright kid, though some evaluators wondered if he was too brainy for his own good. Curiously, his own head coach was among the nay-sayers.
“Because of fit, I would take Sam Darnold if I were the Cleveland Browns,” said Jim Mora, advocating for another QB over his own pupil. “I think that blue collar, gritty attitude, I think his teammates will love him, I think the city will love him. He’ll say the right things. He will come in and he will represent well. I think he kind of represents what Cleveland is. And if I was one of the New York teams, I would take Josh *snap* just like that. I think they will both be great in the pros.”
Later on, Mora backtracked, but only slightly.
“He needs to be challenged intellectually so he doesn’t get bored,” Mora said a few weeks before the draft. “He’s a millennial. He wants to know why. Millennials, once they know why, they’re good. Josh has a lot of interests in life. If you can hold his concentration level and focus only on football for a few years, he will set the world on fire. He has so much ability, and he’s a really good kid.”
Ultimately, the Browns chose the brash confidence of Baker Mayfield over the “gritty attitude” of Sam Darnold. So far, both QBs have greatly outperformed Rosen at the pro level (though, nothing like the No. 32 overall pick, Lamar Jackson).
Rosen went 3-10 as the Cardinals’ starter as a rookie, completing just 55.2% of his throws with 11 touchdowns against 14 interceptions. A deeper look at Rosen’s rookie stats and metrics don’t do him any favors, either. Rosen completed 55% of his throws and averaged just 5.8 yards per attempt. He also finished with a league-worst 26.1 Total QBR and Football Outsiders listed him as the league’s worst full-time quarterback.
Midway through the year, offensive coordinator Mike McCoy got the heave-ho. After the season, head coach Steve Wilks was sent packing. Ditto for Rosen – just one year after the Cardinals selected him, they drafted his replacement in Kyler Murray. All three men would probably point to the Cardinals’ abysmal offensive line as a major factor, but that didn’t save any of their jobs.
Rosen hoped for a fresh start after he was traded to the Dolphins, but he floundered in his three starts and finished the year with one touchdown vs. five picks. Now, with Tua Tagovailoa and Ryan Fitzpatrick firmly entrenched on the roster, Rosen is once again in NFL limbo.
Haason Reddick‘s fifth-year option will be turned down by the Cardinals, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler (on Twitter). With that, the former first-round linebacker is on course for free agency after the 2020 season. 
Reddick came into the league with considerable buzz. Teams were enamored with his athleticism and versatility; scouts saw a player with the potential to star at inside linebacker or dominate on the edge, depending on the need. Unfortunately, Reddick was never able to get his footing in either area. All of the different coaching and scheme changes didn’t help matters either.
The former No. 13 overall pick has perfect attendance over the past three years, but still has just 7.5 sacks to his credit. He was bumped from the starting lineup midway through last year and saw his playing time dwindle as the year drew to a close. Even though the Cardinals took their time on this one, few expected Reddick to have his 2021 season guaranteed for injury.
Reddick will play out his final year with $2.3MM in salary and a $4.3MM cap hit. This could be an opportunity for him to cash in as a free agent, but that’ll only be possible if he gets enough snaps.
Looking ahead, the Cardinals are set to replace him with a younger and even more versatile player in Isaiah Simmons. The Clemson product and combine darling may have the ability to feature as both an edge rusher and a safety.
As shown in PFR’s fifth-year option tracker, Colts safety Malik Hooker is the only player still in limbo.
The Cardinals used their first-round pick on Clemson’s Isaiah Simmons, widely regarded as one of the more versatile draft prospects in recent memory. Arizona defensive coordinator Vance Joseph told the media Tuesday that Simmons would primarily be a linebacker in the NFL, but that overall he’d be a “problem-solver” for the defense, via Darren Urban of the team’s official site.
Urban notes that Joseph said while he might not be able to do all the things he did in college, he still wants “Isaiah to be Isaiah.” Simmons played safety, corner, and linebacker at Clemson. “”If it’s a job that we think he can do, we will put him out there,” Joseph said. That echoes what Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury has said since the draft, and it sounds like the team still isn’t sure exactly how they’re going to use him.
- Speaking of Cardinals linebackers, they also signed De’Vondre Campbell to a one-year deal worth up to $8.5MM this offseason. In his comments to the media Joseph revealed that Campbell was the team’s top free agent target, but they initially didn’t think they would be able to get him because of his price. Eventually, Campbell lowered what he was asking for in exchange for a one-year deal. A 2016 fourth-round pick, Campbell spent the past four years as a starter with the Falcons. Along with Simmons, Arizona is counting on him to help revamp one of the league’s worst units.
On Monday afternoon, the Falcons announced a larger-than-usual 20-player UDFA class. Not to be outdone, the Cardinals added 21 undrafted rookies to their offseason roster:
- Sirgeo Hoffman, RB (Portland State)
- Jonathan Ward, RB (Central Michigan)
- Jermiah Braswell, WR (Youngstown State)
- Shane Leatherbury, WR (Towson)
- Rashad Medaris, WR (Cincinnati)
- Devin Phelps, WR (Shepard)
- JoJo Ward, WR (Hawaii)
- Ryan Becker, TE (SMU)
- Parker Houston, TE (San Diego State)
- Jake Benzinger, OL (Wake Forest)
- Jackson Dennis, OL (Holy Cross)
- Drew Dickinson, OL (Findlay)
- Steven Gonzalez, OL (Penn State)
- T.J. Carter, DL (Kentucky)
- Adam Shuler, DL (Florida)
- Reggie Walker, LB (Kansas State)
- Zane Lewis, CB (Air Force)
- Jace Whittaker, CB (Arizona)
- Jarren Williams, CB (Albany)
- Bejour Wilson, CB (Liberty)
- Reggie Floyd, S (Virginia Tech)
The Cardinals had only 18 open spots heading into this week, so they’ll have to trim a few players from the roster. Arizona GM Steve Keim went heavy on corners in this UDFA class after passing on defensive backs throughout the draft.
Ward, out of Hawaii, is among the more notable names on the list. The wide receiver put himself on the pro radar in 2018 as he averaged a DeSean Jackson-esque 17 yards per reception. But, even with the benefit of Hawaii’s run-and-shoot offense, his production dipped in 2019. The Cardinals are still curious to see whether his solid in-game speed will translate to NFL success.
Zane Gonzalez is back in the fold for the Cardinals. The fourth-year kicker signed his second-round tender Thursday.
The deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets passed last week, effectively tying Gonzalez to the Cardinals. He is set to earn $3.26MM on the tender, which marks a significant raise from his $645K 2019 salary.
After Gonzalez’s rough September 2018 day in New Orleans led to the Browns cutting him, he stabilized his career with the Cards. Becoming their kicker during the 2018 season, Gonzalez kicked in all 16 games for Kliff Kingsbury‘s team last season. He bounced back from an abbreviated 2018 campaign, making 31 of 35 field goals and 34 of 35 PATs.
Barring an extension, the Arizona State alum will be eligible for unrestricted free agency after the 2018 season.
At multiple points during this offseason’s Tom Brady saga, we heard that the 49ers‘ reported interest in the legendary signal-caller was perhaps largely driven by Brady’s camp and that San Francisco was not legitimately considering the 42-year-old. But regardless of how serious their discussions were, 49ers GM John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan at least explored the possibility.
“When you’re talking about one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time with Tom Brady, of course you’re going to have some internal discussion,” Lynch recently said in an interview on The Rich Eisen Show (via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com). “So of course Kyle and I have discussions. … But within a day or two, Kyle and I looked at each other and said, ‘You know what, we really like what we have in Jimmy [Garoppolo].’ … I would tell you we’re more convinced than ever about who our quarterback is in Jimmy Garoppolo.”
Though he had a disappointing showing in the 49ers’ Super Bowl LIV loss, Garoppolo has largely justified the team’s steep investment in him, so it stands to reason that Lynch and Shanahan would continue moving forward with Brady’s former (and much younger) understudy.
Now for more from the NFC West:
- Per TMZ Sports, Cardinals backup QB Brett Hundley is being sued by his ex-wife, who is alleging that Hundley assaulted her both before and after their marriage. The suit is outside of the statute of limitations, and while the accuser’s attorney believes they will be able to overcome that hurdle, Hundley’s attorney says the action is nothing more than an extortion attempt and that Hundley will be filing a counterclaim. Arizona recently re-signed Hundley to serve as Kyler Murray‘s QB2.
- Newly-minted Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins may not be demanding a new deal from Arizona, but the two sides are talking contract just the same. Hopkins has three years (and no guaranteed money) remaining on his existing deal, but former NFL agent and current CBS Sports pundit Joel Corry says the club has no qualms about renegotiating. Corry explores the two approaches the team could take: either adding money to Hopkins’ current deal — i.e. turning the roughly $40MM that remains due to be spread out over the next three years into $50MM-$54MM — or a more conventional extension that adds time and more guarantees to the current contract. Corry’s piece is well-worth a read for Cards fans.
- In case you missed it, the Seahawks have not closed the door on a Jadeveon Clowney return.
The Cardinals have expressed interest in trading down from the No. 8 overall pick, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears. This jibes with the speculation we’ve heard in recent weeks and it would make lots of sense for a team without a second-round pick. 
[RELATED: Hopkins Isn’t “Demanding” New Contract From Cardinals]
The Cardinals sent their second-rounder to the Texans in the DeAndre Hopkins trade – a mere bucket of shells for one of the game’s most talented wide receivers. Meanwhile, they’re looking to address needs including offensive tackle, linebacker, and edge between now and the start of the season.
The No. 8 pick could be perfect for the Falcons, who are working feverishly to move up the board for a prime defender. There, GM Thomas Dimitroff might be able to land Ohio State’s Jeff Okudah or Florida’s C.J. Henderson, this year’s top cornerbacks. Or, if Clemson’s Isaiah Henderson slips, the Falcons could tap him to bolster their edge rush and safety depth all in one shot. That choice could also be prime territory for a QB-needy team.