HEADLINES

Trey McBride

Cardinals Tried To Trade For Calais Campbell In 2024; Team Eyeing Early-Round Defensive Help?

April 11th, 2025 at 3:17pm CST by Sam Robinson

Calais Campbell will attempt to submit a Hall of Fame closing argument where his NFL career began, reuniting with the Cardinals last week. The decorated defensive lineman passed on Dolphins and Ravens offers to return to Arizona.

The Cardinals let Campbell walk in 2017, when he finished off the Jaguars’ “Sacksonville” D-line stable, but a new Arizona regime made an effort to bring him back into the fold last year. Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort attempted to reacquire Campbell via trade, the 38-year-old D-lineman said (via ESPN.com’s Josh Weinfuss). That moved the Cards back on Campbell’s radar, as he played out last season in Miami.

Baltimore also attempted to reacquire Campbell for the stretch run last season; Mike McDaniel played a lead role in nixing that. The Dolphins and Ravens extended offers, as the late-30-something defender has remained a healthy and productive player despite nearing retirement, but Campbell will help a new batch of Cards teammates attempt to continue an Ossenfort-Jonathan Gannon-era progression.

Only long snapper Aaron Brewer remains in place from Campbell’s previous Cardinals tenure, but he will join a new cast of front-seven pieces on a team that has made a stronger effort to fortify these areas this offseason. After no player topped six sacks following a 2023 offseason that featured the losses of J.J. Watt and Zach Allen, the Cardinals signed Josh Sweat and brought back 2024 trade acquisition Baron Browning. Sweat, Browning and BJ Ojulari join Zaven Collins on the edge. Campbell will team with 2024 first-rounder Darius Robinson up front, and more help may be coming early in the draft.

Multiple scouts informed ESPN.com’s Matt Miller a difference-maker on defense early in the draft is likely to be a priority. This strategy did not pay significant dividends in the recent past, with Haason Reddick (during most of his rookie deal), Isaiah Simmons and Collins not making big impacts upon being first-round Cardinal draftees. The Cards, however, took a major step forward under Gannon and Nick Rallis in Year 2 of this partnership, moving from 31st in points allowed in 2023 to 15th in ’24. This came without a reliable pass rush, something the team’s pre-draft visit schedule appears to be highlighting as an area the team is still interested in bolstering.

While the Cardinals could look to trade down due to having only six picks in this draft, the team should be expected to keep bolstering this unit. Although a wide receiver to complement Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride would make sense, the team is unlikely to stop at Sweat in terms of big-ticket defensive additions.

Elsewhere on the Cardinals’ cap sheet, the team’s latest Kelvin Beachum‘s one-year contract is worth $4MM, Cards Wire’s Howard Balzer notes. Heading into his sixth season with the club, the veteran swing tackle will receive $3.49MM guaranteed on his latest Cards agreement. Balzer adds Trey McBride‘s landmark extension features a key date in 2026. After two fully guaranteed base salaries, McBride will see $3MM of his $10.53MM 2027 base salary shift from an injury guarantee to a full guarantee on Day 5 of the ’26 league year.

Cardinals, Trey McBride Agree On Record-Setting TE Extension

April 8th, 2025 at 8:57am CST by Sam Robinson

APRIL 8: McBride’s deal includes $32.5MM locked in at signing, as detailed by Over the Cap. That figure includes a $16.75MM signing bonus as well as his base salaries for 2025 and 2026, along with a ’26 option bonus. A $1.5MM roster bonus will vest if McBride is on the roster for the fifth day of the league year in 2029, the final year of the pact. Annual per-game and roster bonuses are present in the pact.

APRIL 3: Trey McBride loomed as a Cardinals extension candidate, and the team will take care of this important business early. The sides are in agreement on a record-setting deal.

The Cardinals are giving McBride a four-year, $76M extension, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. This deal, which includes $43MM guaranteed, brings the tight end market to $19MM AAV. NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo had reported during an appearance with PHNX Sports a deal was close.

A gargantuan gap still exists between the wide receiver market and tight ends, one that has grown over the past several years, but McBride will become the league’s highest-paid TE by nearly $2MM per year. The Chiefs’ 2024 Travis Kelce raise had elevated the market to $17.1MM AAV; otherwise, no other tight end was attached to a deal that surpassed $16.5MM. While still arguably underpaid, tight ends have at least now approached $20MM-per-year territory. A once-TE-desperate team, which received a long-awaited boost via McBride, is authorizing it.

Between moving to Phoenix in 1988 and acquiring Zach Ertz in 2021, the Cardinals had never seen a tight end eclipse 570 receiving yards in a season. Eventual Cowboys Super Bowl winner Jay Novacek had held the franchise’s top Arizona-years TE yardage number (569) for 33 years prior to Ertz narrowly eclipsing it (574). Taking over for Ertz as the team’s top tight end midway through the 2023 season, McBride smashed through that ceiling by accumulating 825 yards. He became only the second tight end in team history — following St. Louis-years great Jackie Smith — to eclipse 1,000 yards in a season by reaching 1,146 last season.

A second-round pick during Steve Keim‘s final draft at the helm, McBride is 10 years younger than Kelce; the 25-year-old pass catcher represents a central part of the Cardinals’ passing attack, accompanying 2024 top-five pick Marvin Harrison Jr. as the team’s aerial cornerstones. Harrison is tied to a rookie-scale deal through at least 2026; that period will now overlap with the guarantees on McBride’s accord. Though, the Cardinals are likely eyeing a true long-term partnership with their long-awaited TE find.

Though establishing himself as a prolific receiving option in the desert, McBride only totaled five combined touchdowns from 2023-24. Drawing the ire of fantasy GMs, the Cardinals did not see a McBride TD occur until Week 17 last season. He added another in Week 18. The Colorado State alum had posted three 100-yard games, however, and his 111 receptions in 2024 sit second only to DeAndre Hopkins‘ 2020 total (115) in the Cardinals’ 100-plus-year history.

The NFL saw Rob Gronkowski‘s Patriots-friendly extension (six years, $54MM) gridlock the tight end market for most of the 2010s; it took until 2020 for a player at the position (Austin Hooper, interestingly enough) to reach $10.5MM per year. Kelce accepting Chiefs-friendly deals (in 2015 and 2020) also played a role in restricting this market while WR paydays soared.

Even during Gronk’s stranglehold on the market, receivers and tight ends were not nearly as far apart in value as they are today. Ja’Marr Chase‘s new Bengals deal more than doubles McBride’s, leaving the next wave of TEs with work to do. McBride’s contract closed a small portion of this gap, however, and it can still be argued — due to the fourth-year player’s importance in Arizona’s passing attack — this is a Cards-friendly agreement.

The Cards are still waiting for Kyler Murray to show the Pro Bowl-level form he did earlier in his career, but the team has two high-end weapons for the well-compensated passer to target. And Thursday’s agreement ensures no concerns will be in place about the duo’s status as long-term linchpins going into the Cardinals’ offseason program.

Monti Ossenfort: Cardinals To Be ‘Active’ In Free Agency

February 22nd, 2025 at 9:53pm CST by Adam La Rose

Teams around the NFL recently received further clarity on where the 2025 salary cap is expected to land. This year’s increase will be higher than expected, giving those which were already on track to have plenty of space even more spending power.

That list includes the Cardinals. Arizona is currently projected to hold the fifth-most space in the NFL with over $76MM available (h/t Over the Cap). As a result, Monti Ossenfort could be among the more active general managers in the league once the new league year begins in March. Veteran additions via the open market are clearly on the team’s radar.

“We are going to be active [in free agency],” Ossenfort said when speaking about the Cardinals’ offseason outlook (via the team’s website). “We’re going to look for every avenue to improve the team, but we have to be smart about not only this year’s team, but as we build for the future and our own players that we want to extend.”

Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon took on a rebuilding effort upon being hired in 2023. After improving from 4-13 during their first season at the helm to 8-9 in 2024, progress has been made in that process and the coming months will offer plenty of opportunities to take another step forward. Additions along the offensive line could be a priority, with the same being true along the edge and at the cornerback spot given the current makeup of Arizona’s roster.

Of course, in-house matters will be key this offseason as well. Working out an extension with Pro Bowl tight end Trey McBride is something the Cardinals were recently reported to be prioritizing; Ossenfort said work on that front will take place “as it comes up.” A McBride raise granted through a long-term deal will still leave plenty of resources to supplement the team’s draft additions of the past two years.

The NFC West was wide open throughout the 2024 campaign, and continued development on the part of the Cardinals could make at least a wild-card berth a realistic target for next season. Free agency will provide Ossenfort and Co. with the first opportunity to make a notable move, and it will be interesting to see if a lucrative addition is made soon.

Cardinals Hope To Extend TE Trey McBride

February 10th, 2025 at 9:45am CST by Adam La Rose

Over the past two seasons, Trey McBride has established himself as one of the league’s top young tight ends. He could soon be amongst the highest-paid players at the position as a result.

As a 2022 draftee, McBride is now eligible for an extension. The former second-rounder found himself behind veteran Zach Ertz as a rookie, totaling 29 receptions. Since then, however, McBride has been a focal point in the Cardinals’ passing attack, receiving 253 targets across the 2023 and ’24 campaigns. With a combined total of 192 receptions, 1,971 yards and five touchdowns during that span, he is in line for a considerable raise.

Indeed, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler writes the Cardinals hope to extend McBride this offseason. As things stand, the 25-year-old is on track for free agency next offseason, but allowing him to reach the market is obviously a situation the team will look to avoid. A long-term accord will keep McBride in place as a central figure on offense, and an extension will likely bring him near the top of the position’s market.

Three tight ends are currently attached to a deal averaging at least $15MM per year, and another nine have an AAV of $10MM or more. McBride should have little issue joining at least the latter group, and he could look to become one of the top TE earners in the NFL on his next pact. The Colorado State product has comfortably led Arizona in receptions each of the past two years, and that could very well remain the case moving forward. The team’s tight end depth chart includes another recent Day 2 draft investment (2024 third-rounder Tip Reiman), but McBride will be counted on to continue as a consistent playmaker in 2025 and beyond.

The Cardinals are among the league leaders in cap space as the new league year approaches, and they are also on track to have considerable spending power in 2026. Finding the resources for a long-term McBride deal should not be a problem as a result. It will be interesting to see when serious negotiations begin, and how much success team and player have in working out an extension agreement.

NFC West Notes: Cardinals, Rams, Nwosu

August 3rd, 2023 at 1:37pm CST by Sam Robinson

It has long been expected Kyler Murray will miss time to start the season. The Cardinals have not kept a great secret regarding their rebuilding strategy, and even if the team’s new regime had assembled a team on the contender radar, rushing a dual-threat quarterback in a return from an ACL tear would not be a good idea. Murray addressed this matter recently, and ESPN.com’s Josh Weinfuss notes the two-time Pro Bowler was not sure he can make it back by Week 1. The fifth-year passer, who is aiming to return by the season’s outset, refused to put a timetable on his recovery.

The Cardinals placed Murray on the active/PUP list, which could be a precursor to his being stashed on the reserve/PUP list. The latter designation requires a four-game absence to start the year. Colt McCoy, who missed time this offseason due to an elbow ailment, sits as the presumptive Week 1 starter if Murray can’t go. McCoy will turn 37 just before the regular season. Though, the team also rosters David Blough and drafted Clayton Tune in Round 5.

Here is the latest from the NFC West:

  • The player Murray advocated for in the first round, Paris Johnson, is working with Arizona’s first-string offensive line to start camp. During their offseason program, the Cardinals had not determined if the No. 6 overall pick would play guard or tackle. For now, the Ohio State product has lined up at tackle. Johnson began camp at right tackle, opposite D.J. Humphries, and has remained there into August, per GOPHNX.com’s Bo Brack and Weinfuss (Twitter links). The Cardinals re-signed Kelvin Beachum, their three-year right tackle starter, to a two-year, $5.15MM deal in March. With Will Hernandez and Elijah Wilkinson working as the team’s first-string guards, it will be interesting to see how the Cards proceed with Beachum and contract-year blocker Josh Jones, who replaced Humphries at left tackle after a midseason injury.
  • Staying on the subject of O-lines, both Joseph Noteboom and Alaric Jackson are back in action after moving past their respective issues (Achilles tear, blood clots), per Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic (subscription required). The two have split time at left tackle in camp. Jackson is battling Joseph Noteboom for the Rams‘ left tackle job. While Noteboom was mentioned as a guard candidate — if he loses out on the blindside gig to Jackson — Rodrigue adds the loser of this battle is likely ticketed for a swing backup role. That would be quite the fall for Noteboom, who signed a three-year deal worth $40MM in 2022. Due to an offseason restructure, Noteboom is not a realistic cut candidate.
  • Uchenna Nwosu‘s three-year, $45MM Seahawks extension will pay out $16.6MM in full guarantees, according to OverTheCap. The deal moved the edge rusher’s 2023 cap hit down, by about $3MM, to $10.1MM. In 2024, Nwosu’s cap hit will drop, checking in at $8.1MM. His 2025 number spikes to $21.5MM. Nwosu’s 2025 base salary checks in at $14.5MM, and ESPN.com’s Brady Henderson notes $6MM of that total is guaranteed for injury at signing (Twitter link). That $6MM shifts to a full guarantee by February 2024, giving Nwosu partial security a year out. An incentive-based escalator (based on Nwosu’s sack totals) is in place for 2026, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson adds, with Henderson noting it could increase the ’26 payout by $6MM (Twitter links)
  • After four seasons in Kliff Kingsbury‘s Air Raid offshoot, the Cardinals look to be prepared to take advantage of their tight end depth under new OC Drew Petzing. The ex-Browns staffer is preparing to lean on two-tight end formations featuring both Zach Ertz and Trey McBride, Adam Caplan of ProFootballNetwork.com notes. Chosen in last year’s second round, McBride caught 29 passes for 265 yards and a touchdown as a rookie. The Colorado State product played 599 offensive snaps as a rookie, but much of that work came after Ertz’s midseason ACL tear. McCoy confirmed (via Weinfuss) the Cards should be expected to line up in 12 personnel more frequently than they did under Kingsbury.

Cardinals Sign Second-Round TE Trey McBride

May 17th, 2022 at 7:07pm CST by Ben Levine

The Cardinals are almost finished signing their draft class. The team announced that they’ve signed second-round tight end Trey McBride, seventh-round cornerback Christian Matthew, and seventh-round offensive lineman Marquis Hayes to their rookie contracts.

Following a standout college career at Colorado State, the Cardinals made McBride not only their first selection of the draft. They also made him the first tight end off the board when they selected him in the second round (No. 55). After collecting 74 receptions through his first three collegiate seasons, McBride exploded in 2021, hauling in 90 catches for 1,121 yards. The performance earned him a number of accolades, including a unanimous All-American selection and the John Mackey Award, which is given to the top tight end in college football.

The Cardinals held on to Zach Ertz, so McBride will be playing behind the veteran to start his career. However, in a creative and (usually) high-flying offense, it shouldn’t take look for McBride to carve out a role.

As our team-by-team 2022 NFL Draft results show, the Cardinals only have a pair of unsigned draft picks: