Cardinals Sign Three Rookie Free Agents

The Arizona Cardinals agreed to terms with three different players.

Dec 31, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Arizona Cardinals helmet on the bench against the / Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals announced the signings of three rookie undrafted free agents today:

• North Carolina defensive lineman Myles Murphy

• N.C. State long snapper Joe Shimko

• Colorado wide receiver Xavier Weaver

Arizona also announced the team has released long snapper Matt Hembrough.

More on each player via the Cardinals' press release:

"Murphy (6-4, 309) played in 52 games over the past four seasons at North Carolina and made 38 starts, collecting 99 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 7.0 sacks, four passes defensed and one fumble recovery. As a senior in 2023, Murphy started all 13 games and was an honorable mention All-ACC selection after posting 24 tackles, 1.0 sack, 4.5 tackles for loss, two quarterback pressures and a fumble recovery.

"Shimko (6-0, 233) snapped in 62 games over the past five seasons at N.C. State and won the Patrick Mannelly Award following the 2023 season as the nation’s top long snapper. A three-time All-American selection, Shimko was named second-team All-American in each of the past two seasons. He finished his college career with 12 total tackles on special teams and was perfect on all 607 snaps while at N.C. State. 

"Weaver (6-0, 169) played last season at Colorado after spending the four years of his collegiate career at South Florida. He appeared in 49 total games and finished with 184 receptions for 2,643 yards and 14 total touchdowns. Last year at Colorado, Weaver started 10-of-11 games and earned honorable mention All-Pac-12 honors after having 68 receptions for 908 receiving yards and four touchdowns. He added 15 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground. At South Florida, Weaver played in 38 games and had 116 receptions for 1,735 yards and eight touchdowns."

The Cardinals drafted 12 players during the 2024 NFL Draft, and assistant general manager Dave Sears told reporters the high number of picks left little wiggle room for Arizona to target UDFA's:

“This year we ended up lowering that amount just because our roster is almost up to the 90 man limit. I think we might have 86 to 88 right now. I don't have the exact number in front of me, but we didn't have to go out and sign 10 to 13 UDFA’s like some years," Sears said after the draft concluded.

"You’ll see some teams do that right now, but we had a full roster. We like the guys we have in the building right now, so we didn't need to go chase them in addition to having—we ended up with 12 picks. If we had seven picks then we (would have been) signing five more guys.”

Rookie minicamp begins on May 10.