Arizona Cardinals Rumors & News - Pro Football Rumors

Cardinals Cut Antoine Bethea, Mike Glennon

March 8th, 2019 at 3:44pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Cardinals will part with two players Friday, releasing Mike Glennon and Antoine Bethea, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

Glennon’s Arizona stay lasted one year; Bethea was a Cardinal for two seasons but will not have the chance to play for a third Cardinals regime. The veteran safety signed a three-year deal with the then-Bruce Arians-led Cards and stuck around for Steve Wilks‘ lone season. Kliff Kingsbury‘s team will go in a different direction.

These transactions will create nearly $6MM in cap space for the Cards, ballooning their figure north of $43MM.

This represents the second straight offseason the once-coveted Mike Glennon has been released. The Bears cut him after a one-season stay, and that led to him joining the Cards. Glennon played in two games last season, working behind Sam Bradford and then Josh Rosen, but only threw 21 passes. The former third-round pick is now back on the backup-QB market.

Linked to a possible Rosen trade, in advance of a Kyler Murray draft pick, the Cards have one less quarterback on their roster.

Bethea’s career has now lasted 13 years. He will be 35 by the time training camps begin. Despite his age, Bethea was a full-time Cards starter in 2018. After starting for the 2006 Super Bowl champion Colts as a rookie, the former sixth-round pick has played for three teams — a three-year stint with the 49ers coming in between Indianapolis and Arizona stays — and made three Pro Bowls, the most recent one coming in 2014 with San Francisco. But with so many safeties available this year, it is fair to wonder if Bethea has played his final game.

Steelers Trade Marcus Gilbert To Cardinals

March 8th, 2019 at 12:24pm CST by Zachary Links

The Steelers have agreed to trade tackle Marcus Gilbert to the Cardinals, a source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). In return, the Steelers will receive a draft pick late in the sixth round.

The Steelers have been working the phone lines in an attempt to move Gilbert and they found a taker quickly after word broke on Friday. Gilbert, 31, has missed 23 regular season games over the last three years, but he can be a difference-maker for Arizona if he stays healthy and out of trouble with the league.

Since 2011, Gilbert has started in all but one of his games and he has graded out as a top 20 tackle in Pro Football Focus’ rankings in the past. Even in 2018, a down season marred by injury, Gilbert placed as PFF’s No. 41 tackle in the NFL.

The Cardinals’ offensive line was downright porous last offseason and the pocket failed to hold up around rookie quarterback Josh Rosen. Gilbert should help on that front, though the Cardinals – armed with the No. 1 overall pick – still have a ton of work ahead of them.

Cardinals Will Pursue Mosley

March 7th, 2019 at 11:51am CST by Andrew Ortenberg

We heard yesterday that some Ravens players thought C.J. Mosley and Terrell Suggs could re-team in Arizona, and now there’s more smoke to that fire. The “Cardinals are expected to make a big push” for Mosley if the Ravens don’t lock him up before free agency starts, sources told Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com. Mosley to the desert seems to be picking up some steam, and it makes sense. Mosley is still only 26, and would be a very nice pickup for this rebuilding Cardinals team.

Terrell Suggs Could Leave Ravens?

March 6th, 2019 at 8:34pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Although the Ravens would like to re-sign Terrell Suggs, the veteran pass rusher will have a solid market in free agency, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link), who adds there is a “very real possibility” Suggs will not be in Baltimore in 2019.

The Ravens had made Suggs an offer, tweets La Canfora, but the two sides aren’t close on the numbers. While Baltimore expects to continue conversations with Suggs, there is no deal considered imminent. Although Suggs is entering his age-37 campaign, he’s given no hint that he’s ready to retire, and fully plans to continue his career next season.

The Cardinals could become a destination for both Suggs and fellow Ravens free agent C.J. Mosley, as La Canfora writes in a separate piece that the some of the duo’s Baltimore teammates believe the pair could head to the desert. The Ravens opted not to use the franchise tag on Mosley, which would have allowed him to collect a fully guaranteed salary of $15.443MM next year.

Despite his advanced age, there aren’t many signs Suggs is slowing down. He played 744 defensive snaps in 2018, second-most among Baltimore’s front seven defenders (trailing only Mosley). During that time, Suggs posted seven sacks and ranked as the NFL’s 36th-best edge defender among 103 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus.

Teams Inquiring On Cardinals’ Josh Rosen

March 6th, 2019 at 5:00pm CST by Zachary Links

Multiple teams inquired about quarterback Josh Rosen’s availability at the combine last week, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com hears (Twitter links). However, the Cardinals have yet to give any indication that they are willing to move on from him.

As Schefter notes, this doesn’t mean that the Cardinals will not shop Rosen at some point, but it is interesting that they have not responded to overtures so far. Lately, all signs have been pointing to the Cardinals using the No. 1 pick on quarterback Kyler Murray, but team brass could still be deciding between Murray and this year’s non-QB options.

The Redskins, for example, have considered making a run at Rosen, but they’re also thinking about drafting a signal caller of their own.

“I think where we are at this point, and like I said earlier, if there’s a quarterback there that we like at 15, 9 out of 10 we’ll go that route,” exec Doug Williams said. “If it’s not somebody we like, we’ll go with Colt and if we got to go out and get a veteran to work with him until that time comes, that’s probably what we’ll do.”

Rosen, 22, went 3-10 as the Cardinals’ starter last year. He completed just 55.2% of his throws with 11 touchdowns against 14 interceptions, but there were a myriad of issues with Arizona’s offense.

Latest On Antonio Brown Market

March 5th, 2019 at 6:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Steelers’ options may be narrowing. More teams are either bowing out of the Antonio Brown sweepstakes or not too serious about a push to acquire the All-Pro wide receiver.

After reports indicated the Broncos and Eagles were not going to make proposals, the Cardinals, too, will not enter the mix, per Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). Suitors do remain, however.

The Raiders are the team most consistently linked to staying in this pursuit the whole way, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (video link). Washington has also shown interest, though its cap situation ($16.9MM in space) obviously limits the franchise’s ability to take on Brown’s contract. Washington’s front office is also believed to be divided on Brown.

As for the Jets’ interest: it depends. Mike Maccagnan said he would probably contact the Steelers about Brown, and Rapoport notes the Jets are in the mix. The team had previous done internal work on a possible Brown offer. However, the Jets’ entrance into this derby may be cautious, with Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News tweeting Gang Green does not have strong interest in trading for Brown.

New York has the most cap space of any team connected to Brown, at $102MM-plus, and could accommodate a new contract. But the soon-to-be 31-year-old wideout’s odd offseason may make a long-term investment difficult, especially considering the Steelers are set to eat $21MM-plus in dead money two years after authorizing a Brown extension.

The Raiders, however, hold more than $72MM in space and are desperate for receiver help. Their three first-round picks also puts them in position to outmuscle other buyers, but this might not be an extensive market.

Cardinals Release Josh Bynes

March 5th, 2019 at 3:08pm CST by Zachary Links

The Cardinals released veteran linebacker Josh Bynes, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. By releasing Bynes, Arizona will save only $667K against the cap versus a dead money charge of $1.871MM.

Bynes, 30 in August, has been with the Cardinals for the last two seasons. He was elevated to the starting lineup in 2018 and posted 75 tackles and two sacks across eleven games. The Cardinals’ old regime had him playing ahead of both Deone Bucannon and Haason Reddick, but the new regime wasn’t interested in keeping him on a deal that extended through the 2020 season.

This figures to be only one of many moves made by the Cardinals in March. After finishing with the worst record in the NFL last year, Arizona will look to overhaul the roster with roughly $38MM in cap space and a strong stash of draft picks.

Latest On Kyler Murray, Cardinals

March 4th, 2019 at 10:44am CST by Zachary Links

Over the weekend, Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury told people that the selection of Kyler Murray at No. 1 overall is a “done deal,” according to Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com. Kingsbury doesn’t necessarily have final say on the matter, but it’s yet another sign that the Cardinals are serious about drafting the undersized, yet immensely talented, Oklahoma quarterback.

The Murray-to-Arizona talk seemed far fetch just a few weeks ago because drafting Murray with the first pick would mean walking away from Josh Rosen, just one year after the Cardinals traded up to the No. 10 pick to select him. If they trade the UCLA product, the Cardinals might not get much in return.

“Probably a three,” an NFL GM told Peter King of NBC Sports when asked to approximate Rosen’s trade value. “Not what the Cardinals would think his value is.”

If the Cardinals settle on Murray at No. 1 and put Rosen on the block, they could find a suitor in the Redskins. Or, they could stand pat with Rosen – who just celebrated his 22nd birthday – and dangle the top pick to a team intensely interested in Murray, such as the Raiders.

Cardinals Won't Tender Pierre

March 2nd, 2019 at 8:40pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Cardinals will be non-tendering defensive tackle Olsen Pierre, a source told Florio (Twitter link). Pierre, a 2015 undrafted free agent, made his first NFL appearance with Arizona in 2017. He ended up starting seven games for them that year and was very productive, racking up 5.5 sacks. He appeared in ten games for them last year with one start, but the new coaching staff apparently wants to move on. He should be able to latch on somewhere when the market opens in a couple of weeks.

Redskins Considering Josh Rosen Offer?

March 2nd, 2019 at 3:33pm CST by Sam Robinson

While the Cardinals were emphatic last month that Josh Rosen will be their quarterback of the future, plenty of smoke has emerged during Combine week of a Kyler Murray-Arizona fit.

That would make Rosen an attractive commodity, and one team is considering making a run at the 2018 first-round pick. The Redskins, per DraftAnalyst.com’s Tony Pauline (Twitter link) “have spoken openly” in Indianapolis about making a run at Rosen — if the Cardinals make him available.

Washington’s quarterback situation profiles as one of the most unique in years, with Alex Smith still on the team’s payroll (at a $20MM-plus 2019 cap figure) but possibly having thrown his last NFL pass. He is out for the 2019 season. The Redskins are open to the idea of Colt McCoy being their stopgap this season, and the idea of them spending big to bring in a veteran doesn’t appear likely.

They hold the No. 15 overall pick, and player personnel VP Doug Williams said if the organization likes a quarterback who is on the board at that point, that would be the way they would likely go about addressing this unusual situation.

“I think where we are at this point, and like I said earlier, if there’s a quarterback there that we like at 15, 9 out of 10 we’ll go that route,” Williams said, via NBC Sports Washington. “If it’s not somebody we like, we’ll go with Colt and if we got to go out and get a veteran to work with him until that time comes, that’s probably what we’ll do.”

Williams, though, did not sound like a trade-up scenario was in the cards. The Cardinals landed Rosen via trade-up, and considering the circumstances, did not have to part with much draft capital to make that move to No. 10 last year. Rosen struggled as a rookie but was not dealt a great hand, with the Cardinals’ offensive line in shambles and OC Mike McCoy fired midway through the season.

Rosen would also help solve the franchise’s financial concerns. The Cards paid their current starter a $10.88MM signing bonus, which would leave another team on the hook for less than $7MM through 2021.

The 22-year-old signal-caller was the fourth quarterback taken last year. However, ex-Redskins GM Scot McCloughan does not rate any of this year’s quarterback prospects higher than him, via Robert Klemko of SI.com. McCloughan and NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah place Rosen above both Murray and Dwayne Haskins, and the Redskins are unlikely to be in position to land either of those prospects at 15.

Kliff Kingsbury has been connected to Murray for years, having attempted to recruit him at Texas Tech and saying in advance of last year’s Texas Tech-Oklahoma game he would draft him No. 1 overall if he had the chance. And it appears the Combine has not done anything to cool off this connection.

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