The Cardinals have signed enough undrafted free agents to fill a starting lineup. Of course, it’s likely that only a few will actually make Arizona’ final cut. The complete rundown of Arizona’s UDFA class is as follows:
- CB Elijah Battle (West Virginia)
- TE Alec Bloom (Connecticut)
- LB Dennis Gardeck (Sioux Falls)
- LB Frank Ginda (San Jose State)
- OL Will House (Southern Nazarene)
- S A.J. Howard (Appalachian State)
- DE Alec James (Wisconsin)
- QB Chad Kanoff (Princeton)
- K Matt McCrane (Kansas State)
- LB Mike Needham (Southern Utah)
- CB Deatrick Nichols (South Florida)
- DT Owen Obasuyi (Hampton)
- OL Austin Olsen (Southern Illinois)
- LB Matthew Oplinger (Yale)
- S Jonathan Owens (Missouri Western)
- FB Austin Ramesh (Wisconsin)
- WR Trent Sherfield (Vanderbilt)
- CB Tavierre Thomas (Ferris State)
- WR Jalen Tolliver (Arkansas-Monticello)
- WR Jonah Trinnaman (BYU)
- S Zeke Turner (Washington)
- TE Andrew Vollert (Weber State)
- OL Brant Weiss (Toledo)
- WR Corey Willis (Central Michigan)
The Cardinals also have six drafted rookies to account for, meaning that they presently have 99 players in total. The Cardinals will be laying off at least nine players in the coming days in order to sign the aforementioned UDFAs to contracts.
Kicker Phil Dawson inked a two-year, $6MM deal with the Cardinals last year, but the team could save $2.5MM with just $1MM in dead money by releasing him. In theory, McCrane could have an opportunity to unseat him, especially since he would represent a cheaper option. Last year, Dawson connected on 80% of his field goal tries, including 4-of-5 from 50+ yards. He also nailed the longest field goal try of his NFL career when he sank a 57-yard game winner against the Jaguars.