HEADLINES

Arizona Cardinals News & Rumors

Cardinals Sign DE/OLB Brooks Reed

February 9th, 2019 at 11:09am CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Robert Alford isn’t the only former Falcon the Cardinals are signing. Two days after signing Alford, the team has agreed to terms on a one-year deal with Brooks Reed, the team announced on their official site.

Reed’s one-year deal is worth $1.625MM with $250K fully guaranteed, Adam Caplan of SiriusXM tweets. The team’s announcement stated that Reed, who played defensive end in Atlanta, will move to outside linebacker in the Cardinals’ 3-4 scheme. Reed had been with the Falcons for the past four seasons, and had one year left on his contract when the team cut him Wednesday.

Reed initially entered the league as a second round pick of the Texans back in 2011, and signed a five-year, $22MM deal with Atlanta in March of 2015. This past year he appeared in all 16 games for the Falcons with eight starts, but notched just one sack. For his career he has 21.5 sacks through eight seasons. He restructured his deal and agreed to take a pay cut last March to help him stick with the team, but it apparently wasn’t enough to keep him around this year.

Reed had his best years, including a six sack rookie season, while playing outside linebacker with the Texans, so perhaps he’ll return to form here. Since Reed was cut before his contract expired, he was eligible to sign right away and didn’t have to wait for free agency to open. The Cardinals have been aggressive in pursuing veteran players before the market opens, as they already claimed Tanner Vallejo off waivers earlier this week in addition to signing Alford to a three-year deal. They also claimed D.J. Swearinger off waivers from the Redskins late in the season.

Cardinals Hire New Contract Negotiator

February 8th, 2019 at 6:20pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg
  • The Cardinals are hiring Matt Harriss away from the Lions as their new director of administration, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link). Garafolo notes that Harriss will be Arizona’s contracts guy, and that the Lions and Cardinals essentially swapped contract negotiators because Detroit had just hired Mike Disner away from the Cardinals.

Cardinals Sign CB Robert Alford

February 7th, 2019 at 5:11pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Cardinals have signed former Falcons cornerback Robert Alford to a three-year contract, the club announced today. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com first reported (via Twitter) that Alford, who was released by Atlanta earlier this week, was working out an agreement with the Cards.

Alford’s thee-year pact has a base value of $22.5MM and could be worth up to $24MM, tweets Rapoport. The ex-Falcons defensive back was earning $9.5MM annually under his Atlanta contract, so Alford will take a pay cut as he heads to the Cardinals. His deal reportedly contains $13MM in guarantees, although those are likely injury guarantees and not full guarantees.

Arizona has previously attempted to fill its No. 2 corner void by making veteran additions, and it’s worked at points, with Antonio Cromartie and Tramon Williams representing success stories opposite top defensive back Patrick Peterson. The Cardinals attempted a similar strategy in 2018 by acquiring Jamar Taylor from the Browns prior to the regular season, but he struggled in the desert and was ultimately released in November.

Career journeyman Bene Benwikere ended up playing the second-most snaps of any Cardinals cornerback last year, but Arizona ranked just 23rd in DVOA against opposing No. 2 wideouts, so they were searching for an upgrade. As a bonus, Alford won’t affect the Cards’ compensatory pick calculations given that he was a street free agent following his release from the Falcons.

Alford, 30, had been one of Atlanta’s longest-tenured players, as he’d been with the club since being selected in the second round of the 2013 draft. An 88-game veteran, Alford started 15 games a season ago but posted arguably the worst campaign of his pro career. Pro Football Focus graded Alford as a bottom-10 cornerback league-wide, while he ranked dead last among 85 qualifiers in Football Outsiders’ yards per pass allowed and success rate.

Cardinals Claim Tanner Vallejo Off Waivers

February 5th, 2019 at 7:47pm CST by Ben Levine

Tanner Vallejo has found a new team. After being waived by the Browns yesterday, the linebacker has been claimed by the Cardinals (via the team’s website).

While the 24-year-old has been waived twice over past five months, there were still plenty of teams lining up to make a claim. NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports (via Twitter) that the Jets, Giants, Bengals, Vikings, and Chargers also made an attempt to claim Vallejo off waivers. Thanks to Arizona’s league-worst 3-13 record, they got first dibs on the player.

The Boise State product was selected by the Bills in the sixth-round of the 2017 draft, and he proceeded to appear in 15 games as a rookie. Vallejo was waived by Buffalo prior to this past season before landing on the Browns. In fact, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo points out (via Twitter) that the Cardinals made an unsuccessful claim on the linebacker at that time, so their interest in the linebacker isn’t anything new.

Vallejo ended up being relatively productive in Cleveland, compiling 27 tackles and one forced fumble in 13 games (one start). He ultimately finished the season on IR due to a hamstring injury. The Cardinals will now pick up the two years remaining on his rookie contract.

Cardinals Promote Assistant From Wilks' Staff

February 1st, 2019 at 8:44pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg
  • New Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury isn’t just retaining one member of last year’s coaching staff, he’s promoting him. Kingsbury will promote Chris Achuff, who was an assistant defensive line coach on Steve Wilks’ staff last year, to be his defensive line coach, a source told Bob McManaman of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link). Achuff had been with Baylor for nine years before joining the Cardinals, so perhaps he had some familiarity with Kingsbury from their Big 12 days.

Patrick Peterson Apologizes For Trade Request

January 30th, 2019 at 9:32pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Speaking at the Phoenix Open golf tournament on Wednesday, Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson apologized for his 2018 trade request and reiterated that he’s in Arizona “to stay,” according to Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The Cardinals were 1-6 when Peterson originally made his request and ultimately finished with a 3-13 record, their worst mark during Peterson’s eight-year run in the desert. Teams like the Saints and Eagles were reportedly interested in acquiring Peterson, but he rescinded his trade demand only two days after making it. Peterson, a three-time first-team All Pro and eight-time Pro Bowler, is signed through the 2020 campaign.

Cardinals Interview J.P. Losman

January 25th, 2019 at 3:13pm CST by Sam Robinson
  • Kliff Kingsbury already received a commitment from a 2004 first-round pick to help his offense, with Larry Fitzgerald re-signing with the Cardinals for 2019. Seeking more help for his first Arizona offense, Kingsbury met with another member of that ’04 first-round contingent. J.P. Losman interviewed for a position on the Cardinals’ offensive staff, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Currently serving as a Clemson staffer, Losman, 37, was a Bills first-rounder 15 years ago.

Contract Details: Fitzgerald, Cardinals, Jags

January 24th, 2019 at 1:22pm CST by Zachary Links

Here are the contract details on some of the NFL’s latest deals:

  • Larry Fitzgerald‘s new deal with the Cardinals includes a base salary of $11M plus incentives, a source tells Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The pact does not include a signing bonus, but he did manage to match his $11MM salary from 2018. That’s not a bad deal for the veteran wide receiver given his drop in production last season.
  • The Jaguars‘ three-year deal with safety Jarrod Wilson is worth $9MM, a source tells NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). The contract calls for a $1MM signing bonus, $1.5MM guaranteed, and up to $1.75MM in playtime incentives over the last two years of the deal. Prior to the new deal, he was slated to be a restricted free agent this offseason.
  • Seantrel Henderson‘s new one-year deal with the Texans can be worth up to $4.5MM, but much of that sum is tied to performance incentives, as Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. He’s set to earn a base salary of $1.5MM with $1MM guaranteed, plus a $500K roster bonus in April and a $500K bonus if he’s on the 46-man roster for at least 12 games. He’ll also see a $2MM roster bonus paid out at a rate of $125K for every game he’s on the 46-man roster.

Cardinals Re-Sign Larry Fitzgerald

January 23rd, 2019 at 9:10am CST by Zachary Links

Larry Fitzgerald will return for his 16th season. On Wednesday, the Cardinals announced that Fitzgerald is back in the fold with a brand new one-year deal. 

“No player has meant more to this franchise or this community than Larry Fitzgerald,” said Cardinals President Michael Bidwill. “In my discussions with him, it was clear that he is as driven and passionate as ever. We are thrilled he’ll be back for 2019.”

Fitzgerald was once again on the fence about retirement, but it appears that the team’s hiring of Kliff Kingsbury helped convince him to continue playing.

“Hell of a coach. … Look at his resume,” Fitzgerald said this week. “He’s innovative offensively. That’s the wave of the future right now, so I’m excited for the chance to meet him.”

Fitzgerald, 36 in August, was held to just 69 catches for 734 yards and six touchdowns last year as the Cardinals’ offense sagged. If the Cardinals are able to get back on track and balance things with David Johnson, Fitzgerald will likely be able to get back to his old form. In 2017, his age-34 season, Fitzgerald managed 1,156 yards off of 109 catches with six TDs.

Fitzgerald, in theory, could have tested the open market, but he has repeatedly stated that he’s only willing to play in Arizona.

Fitz, Kingsbury In Communication

January 22nd, 2019 at 7:33pm CST by Sam Robinson

Fitzgerald played out his contract and is a free agent. While it would seemingly be tempting for the 15-year veteran to see if he could land with a team better positioned to compete for a championship, the career-long Cardinal has said multiple times he will only play for the Cards. Fitz continues to deliberate about the possibility of retiring or coming back for a 16th season.

After the Cardinals trudged through their worst season in 18 years, Larry Fitzgerald‘s latest retire-or-not decision now features another new coach and offensive system in the equation — this one with no NFL coaching experience. But the future Hall of Fame receiver has not distanced himself from the process that brought Kliff Kingsbury to Arizona. Fitz has exchanged text messages with his new coach, the 35-year-old wideout told TMZ recently (via the Arizona Republic).

Load More Posts