Feb. 17, 2026, 10:31 p.m. MT<\/p>\n
The Arizona Cardinals<\/a> could be active again this offseason in free agency. They have a number of positions they should address. With Jalen Thompson scheduled to be a free agent, safety is a position to consider.<\/p>\n ESPN’s Matt Bowen matched the 50 top free agents<\/a> scheduled to hit the open market next month with a team that they best fit.<\/p>\n One safety is paired with the Cardinals.<\/p>\n Arizona Cardinals free agent match: S Reed Blankenship<\/p>\n With safety Jalen Thompson entering free agency, the Cardinals might opt to sign Blankenship to play opposite Budda Baker. Blankenship was with current Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis in Philly during his rookie season, and he’s a fit for Arizona’s foundational two-high coverages. Blankenship also brings ball production (nine career interceptions with the Eagles).<\/p>\n Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n This really is a good fit. At 6-1 and over 200 pounds, he gives the Cardinals a different physical profile at the position (Thompson is 5-11, while Budda Baker and Dadrion Taylor-Demerson are both 5-10), and a different skill set. He makes plays on the ball, but he can also be a physical tackler, collecting as many as 113 in a season.<\/p>\n Rallis knows him and he would give the secondary an upgrade.<\/p>\n It is a fantastic fit.<\/p>\n Get more Cardinals<\/a> and NFL coverage from Cards<\/a> Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Apple podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 17, 2026, 10:31 p.m. MT The Arizona Cardinals could be active again this offseason in free agency.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[159202,49,48,514,82,194922,194923,160670,160697,194926,160676,194925,159798,160668,160683,159095,194924,159795,159089,159085],"class_list":{"0":"post-482640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-sstssportsnflcardinals","14":"tag-sstsncardinals","15":"tag-tagamerican-football","16":"tag-tagarizona-cardinals","17":"tag-tagbudda-baker","18":"tag-tagespn-inc","19":"tag-tagjalen-thompson","20":"tag-tagnational-sports","21":"tag-tagnfl","22":"tag-tagnfl-hub","23":"tag-tagoverall-positive","24":"tag-tagreed-blankenship","25":"tag-tagsmg-listicle","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-typestory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}