![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/weinfuss_josh.png&h=80&w=80&scale=crop.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Josh WeinfussMar 21, 2026, 03:55 AM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Josh Weinfuss is a staff writer who covers the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL at ESPN. Josh has covered the Cardinals since 2012, joining ESPN in 2013. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and a graduate of Indiana University.<\/p>\n Multiple Authors<\/p>\n TEMPE, Ariz. — With free agency calming down and the dust around the Arizona Cardinals<\/a>‘ organizational shakeup settling, their approach to the 2026 season has started to become clear.<\/p>\n After what was supposed to be a three-year rebuild, the Cardinals showed during the first week of free agency that they’re, well, still in rebuilding phase — from quarterback on down. After releasing Kyler Murray<\/a>, once considered to be a foundational piece of the organization, Arizona signed Gardner Minshew<\/a> to join Jacoby Brissett<\/a> and Kedon Slovis<\/a> in the quarterback room. Yet, there hasn’t been clarity on who the starter is going be in 2026.<\/p>\n Arizona signed 14 external free agents and re-signed six of their own, but their moves signaled that another rebuild is booting. Of the 14, eight were on offense, five on defense and one on special teams, depending on how Devin Duvernay<\/a> is classified, since he’s listed as a receiver but his primary role will be a returner.<\/p>\n Another sign that Arizona is undertaking another rebuild is that only one free agent — guard Isaac Seumalo<\/a> — received a three-year contract, and that was the longest deal handed out by general manager Monti Ossenfort. Five two-year deals were signed and the rest were one-year contracts.<\/p>\n When looking at Arizona’s moves as a whole, here’s what we learned about the Cardinals’ approach to free agency.<\/p>\n Age is more than just a number: Half of the Cardinals free agents were at least 30 years old and four were 28 or 29. Forget a youth movement. Arizona is trending the other way.<\/p>\n And it makes sense because the Cardinals are under an impetus from owner Michael Bidwill to turn around a 3-14 season in one year. Having older, more experienced players tend to shorten the curve on building a cohesive locker room, especially with a first-year head coach, which, in theory, can lead to wins more quickly. And wins are what Arizona needs. Badly. All three of the offensive linemen that the Cardinals signed – Seumalo, Matt Pryor<\/a> and Elijah Wilkinson<\/a> – are 32, 31 and 31, respectively. Not exactly spring chickens, but also not exactly heading into the sunset anytime soon, either.<\/p>\n What’s clear by looking at this year’s free agency class as it stands is that the long term wasn’t exactly part of the plan. Addressing key needs like the offensive line with older players on shorter contracts doesn’t scream that the Cardinals are in it with those players for the long haul.<\/p>\n Defensive line shuffle: After rebuilding the defensive front last season only to see the unit underperform, Ossenfort signed three more defensive linemen — Andrew Billings<\/a>, Jonah Williams<\/a> and Roy Lopez<\/a>, while re-signing L.J. Collier<\/a> — to be part of the rotation.<\/p>\n Best of NFL Nation \u2022 Why have Vikes been so quiet in free agency?<\/a> Signing this group was more than just churning through the bottom of the roster.<\/p>\n Arizona ranked 25th in rushing yards allowed per game and 24th in rushing yards allowed per run last season, so a retool was needed. The Cardinals released Dalvin Tomlinson<\/a> and Calais Campbell<\/a> is still a free agent, so adding Billings, Williams and Lopez, who played for Arizona in 2024, is hope that the resources poured into the defensive front last season will pay off this season.<\/p>\n Offensive line emphasis: One of the Cardinals’ top priorities this offseason was and will continue to be their offensive line. One of the biggest needs, if not their No. 1 priority, is right tackle but addressing the interior of the line was also something that Arizona needed to take a closer look at.<\/p>\n Signing Seumalo was a clear move that he would start at left guard, which led to the release of Evan Brown<\/a>, who has since signed with the Texans. Wilkinson can play inside and outside, giving the Cardinals a competition at right guard along with Isaiah Adams<\/a> and Jon Gaines II<\/a>, as well as with Josh Pryor at right tackle.<\/p>\n Matt Pryor was the Eagles’ swing tackle last season, so he’ll come in and compete for the right tackle job, although the depth there doesn’t preclude Arizona from drafting a tackle who can start immediately.<\/p>\n The Cardinals averaged 93.1 rushing yards per game last season, which ranked 31st, but 4.33 rushing yards per play, which ranked 16th. A lot of the blame was put on the offensive line, although Arizona was down its top two running backs — James Conner<\/a> and Trey Benson<\/a> — since Weeks 3 and 4, respectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh WeinfussMar 21, 2026, 03:55 AM CloseJosh Weinfuss is a staff writer who covers the Arizona Cardinals and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-554942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/r1629619_608x342_16-9.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u2022 Breaking down Mike Evans’ 49ers contract<\/a>
\u2022 Waddle trade shows Dolphins are in full reset<\/a>
\u2022 Why Ravens took ‘big swing’ on Hendrickson<\/a>
\u2022 Gary wants to be impact player for Dallas<\/a><\/p>\n