Instant Reaction: Cardinals Finally Make Splash Signing

Finally.

The Arizona Cardinals entered free agency frenzy with some massive cap space to spend with equal sized holes on the roster.

After a 2024 season where the Cardinals doubled their win total and narrowly missed the playoffs, general manager Monti Ossenfort was tasked with choosing between two avenues to alter the trajectory of the franchise.

In the two previous offseasons, Ossenfort was nowhere close to a big spender - and deservingly so, as Arizona was in no position to justify massive spending. His background with the Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots closely follows that train of thought, too.

His comments at the Combine only put more question marks around the potential of the Cardinals slinging around that $74 million in effective cap space.

"It's just one of those things where you also have to be smart about it. You don't want to spend to spend either. You have to make the right decisions. If you historically look back and see teams that won the off-season or teams that won free agency... going back and looking at 2020, is that always the case, six, nine, or 12 months later? I don't know," he told reporters.

Approaching a third and pivotal offseason, Ossenfort had the potential to once again be conservative with spending or go after big names in order to push the Cardinals' roster to the next level.

The early hours of free agency didn't exactly go to plan for Arizona, as potential targets in Jonathan Allen, D.J. Reed, Haason Reddick and Harold Landry all went elsewhere.

Many had feared the Cardinals were again going to be bystanders on the first day of action - until news broke of Josh Sweat's four-year, $76 million deal to land in the desert.

The deal makes sense for a number of reasons.

Sweat worked under head coach Jonathan Gannon and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis during their time together with the Philadelphia Eagles. His best season statistically (11 sacks) came under Gannon's guidance in 2022.

Sweat has been healthy (16 games played in each of the last four seasons), productive (33 sacks in that time) and isn't breaking any financial records, as his $19.1 million APY ranks 15th in the NFL.

The Cardinals' biggest need entering this offseason was a premier player to get after the quarterback. Rather than waiting for the draft or attempting to go bargain shopping, Arizona finally opened the checkbook for a proven player.

The move makes sense for a number of reasons, though above all, it's nice to see the Cardinals' commitment to winning and improving carried through actions rather than words.

For live grades on every Cardinals free agent move, click here.