Arizona Cardinals Rumors & News - Pro Football Rumors

Latest On Cardinals’ Free Agent WRs

March 4th, 2018 at 4:09pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Two Cardinals free agent wide receivers are already drawing interest around the league: nine clubs are eyeing Jaron Brown, while seven teams have interest on John Brown, according to Mike Jurecki of ArizonaSports.com (Twitter link).

A number of clubs consider Jaron Brown a potential No. 2 wide receiver who can also play special teams, per Jurecki. Brown, 28, posted the best season of his career in 2017 by registering 31 receptions for 477 yards and four touchdowns. He’d previously been a key special teams player for Arizona, but as his role in the Cardinals’ offense grew, his ST playtime decreased. Last year, Brown played on only a third of Arizona’s special teams snaps, a career low.

John Brown, meanwhile, is coming off the worst season of his NFL tenure, as injuries limited him to just 10 games in 2017. During that time, Brown managed only 21 receptions for 299 yards and two scores. As recently as 2015, however, the now 27-year-old Brown put up 65 catches for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns, and he’s now finally healthy, per Jurecki, meaning it shouldn’t be a surprise if clubs see Brown as an upside play.

Cardinals Would Like To Retain Josh Bynes, Could Draft LB

March 4th, 2018 at 12:59pm CST by Rory Parks

Mike Jurecki of 98.7FM says the Cardinals would like to retain linebacker Josh Bynes as a depth option, but he believes the team will target a linebacker at some point in the draft and/or look to the UDFA market to grab an LB (Twitter link).

Cardinals To Part Ways With Tyrann Mathieu?

March 3rd, 2018 at 11:19am CST by Ben Levine

CBSSports.com’s Jason La Canfora tweets that he’d be surprised if safety Tyrann Mathieu was back with the Cardinals next season. The 25-year-old had a tongue-in-cheek reply to the tweet, asking “anybody gonna tell me anything?” Mathieu started all 16 games for the first time in his career in 2017, finishing with 78 tackles, seven passes defended, and two interceptions. The safety’s cap hit in 2018 will exceed $14MM.

[SOURCE LINK]

Latest On Kirk Cousins, “Final” Suitors

March 3rd, 2018 at 10:08am CST by Ben Levine

The Kirk Cousins sweepstakes is quickly heating up. Earlier today, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported (via Twitter) that there were four “final” teams vying for the quarterback’s services: the Broncos, Cardinals, Jets and Vikings.

Denver, Minnesota, and New York have definitively been connected to Cousins for much of the offseason, but it’s mostly been speculation surrounding Arizona’s interest in the signal-caller. Following the retirement of Carson Palmer, the Cardinals currently aren’t rostering a single quarterback.

With the return of David Johnson and the presence of Larry Fitzgerald, Cousins would seemingly have an opportunity to flourish in Arizona. In a bit of an ironic twist, Cousins posted a picture of himself and Fitzgerald on Instagram yesterday, writing “Ran into Fitz in the airport yesterday. He’s a GREAT recruiter!” Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they’re currently operating with less cap space than the other three candidates.

Assuming these are indeed the final four teams vying for Cousins, the report seemingly takes several other potential suitors out of the mix. Primarily, the Browns, who are armed with $110MM-plus in cap space, seem to be out of the race for the quarterback.

Cousins had another productive season in 2017, completing 64.3-percent of his passes for 4,093 yards, 27 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. We heard yesterday that the Broncos would be going hard after Cousins, while “rampant speculation” around the Combine projects that Cousins is ultimately going to Minnesota

Chris Johnson Not Ready To Retire

March 1st, 2018 at 1:02pm CST by Zachary Links

Chris Johnson‘s 2017 season ended prematurely when he he was released by the Cardinals in October, but he is not ready to give up on football. The running back says he wants to “give it another go,” according to ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson (on Twitter).

“I’m not done yet,” Johnson said. “I am still going strong. I got too much juice left.”

It remains to be seen whether the rest of the league agrees with CJ2K’s assessment. Johnson did not draw significant interest last offseason before re-signing with Arizona on a one-year deal just prior to the season opener. When he was cut loose one month later, there were no reports of Johnson getting calls from other teams.

Many assumed that Johnson was on the downslope of his career when he was let go by the Titans after the 2013 season. He answered critics in 2014 by averaging 4.3 yards per carry for the Jets and followed that up with 4.2 yards per tote for Arizona in 2015. When Johnson suffered a suffered a fractured tibia in Week 12, that opened the door for David Johnson, who has since emerged as one of the league’s premier young rushers. Over the last two years, C. Johnson has appeared in just eight games thanks to a groin injury in ’16 and his release last season.

Johnson averaged 1,328 yards per season over his six years with the Titans, including a 2,000+ yard campaign in 2009. His resume, which includes three Pro Bowl selections and one First-Team All-Pro nod, is impressive, but he’ll be celebrating his 33rd birthday in September.

Cardinals Undecided On Tyrann Mathieu’s 2018 Option

February 28th, 2018 at 3:11pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Cardinals are evaluating the contract status of defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, general manager Steve Keim told reporters today, but the Arizona decision-maker sounded “very non-committal” about picking up Mathieu’s 2018 option, tweets Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com.

Mathieu, 25, inked a five-year, $62.5MM extension with the Cardinals prior to the 2016 campaign. That deal, on its face, locked the former third-round pick in Arizona through 2021, but the deal contains a roster bonus that will determine Mathieu’s fate with the club. Mathieu will collect a $5MM bonus if he’s on the Arizona roster on March 14. Not only that, but Mathieu’s entire 2018 base salary ($5.75MM) and $8MM of his $10.75MM 2019 base salary would become fully guaranteed.

The Cardinals could release Mathieu before mid-March and not be forced to make those payments, but the club would still be on the hook for $9.3MM in dead money. Arizona would create $4.8MM in cap space by cutting Mathieu, but it’s possible the two sides could work out a pay reduction or contract restructuring, allowing Mathieu to stay in the desert while the Cardinals save cash and cap space.

Mathieu was a Pro Bowler and one of the NFL’s best defensive backs as recently as 2015, but he’s struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness over the past two seasons. Last year, Mathieu managed to start all 16 games, but only graded as the league’s No. 61 cornerback among 121 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus.

Salary Cap Rollover For All 32 NFL Teams

February 27th, 2018 at 12:17pm CST by Zachary Links

This week, the NFLPA updated its salary cap report to include the rollover amounts for all 32 teams in the NFL. The Browns, as expected, lead the league in $58.9MM in cap space rolled over from the previous season. Here is the full rundown of each team’s rollover amounts:

After the Browns, the 49ers ($56MM), Titans ($30.3MM), Jaguars ($27.8MM), and Jets ($17.3MM) boast the highest rollover amounts in the league. The Dolphins ($69K), Saints ($287K), Giants ($365K), Eagles ($514K), and the Seahawks ($547K) have the least amount of rollover. In total, teams carried over nearly $340MM from last season, good for an average of $10.6MM per club.

NFL Awards Compensatory Picks To 15 Teams

February 23rd, 2018 at 3:52pm CST by Zachary Links

The NFL has awarded 15 compensatory draft picks to teams, as directed by the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The compensatory pick system provides additional picks to teams who lose more/better qualifying free agents in the previous year than gained.

This year, the 32 comp picks were dispersed to 15 different teams. Here is the complete rundown:

Round 3

No. 97 overall – Cardinals
No. 98 overall – Texans
No. 99 overall – Broncos
No. 100 overall – Bengals

Round 4

No. 133 overall – Packers
No. 134 overall – Cardinals
No. 135 overall – Giants
No. 136 overall – Patriots
No. 137 overall – Cowboys

Round 5

No. 170 overall – Bengals
No. 171 overall – Cowboys
No. 172 overall – Packers
No. 173 overall – Cowboys
No. 174 overall – Packers

Round 6

No. 207 overall – Packers
No. 208 overall – Cowboys
No. 209 overall – Chiefs
No. 210 overall – Raiders
No. 211 overall – Texans
No. 212 overall – Raiders
No. 213 overall – Vikings
No. 214 overall – Texans
No. 215 overall – Ravens
No. 216 overall – Raiders
No. 217 overall – Raiders
No. 218 overall – Vikings

Round 7

No. 251 overall – Chargers
No. 252 overall – Bengals
No. 253 overall – Bengals
No. 254 overall – Cardinals
No. 255 overall – Buccaneers
No. 256 overall – Falcons

The Bengals, Cowboys, Packers and Raiders lead the way in comp picks this year with four. The Cardinals and Texans each snagged three, the Vikings own two, and the Falcons, Ravens, Broncos, Chiefs, Chargers, Patriots, Giants, and Buccaneers each have one.

Cardinals Could Look To Add Up To Four QBs

February 19th, 2018 at 3:42pm CST by Ryan Posner

With Carson Palmer retiring, and fellow quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert, Drew Stanton and Matt Barkley due to hit free agency, the Cardinals could be in the market for up to four quarterbacks this offseason, according to Mike Jurecki of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (on Twitter). The team will obviously seek out a starter to replace Palmer, but Jurecki believes they’ll also add at least one quarterback in the draft and add another through free agency to create depth. A combination of Palmer, Stanton and Gabbert led Arizona to an 8-8 record and third-place finish in the NFC West last year.

Steve Keim On Cardinals' QB Search

February 18th, 2018 at 10:23am CST by Rory Parks

Just like 2013, Steve Keim‘s first year as the Cardinals‘ GM, Arizona has a void at quarterback. During a recent interview on 98.7 FM, Keim addressed that need (article via Vince Marotta of ArizonaSports.com). He indicated that the team would be active in the free agent market, which is as rich in QB talent as it has been at any time in recent memory, and he did not rule out the possibility of a trade. Of course, whether they do so via free agency, a trade, or the draft, the Cardinals will need to acquire at least two signal-callers this offseason.

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