Cardinals Free Agent Move May Have Tipped Mike LaFleur's Hand

ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals are signing free agent tight end Kenny Yeboah, according to reports.

Former #Jets and #Lions TE Kenny Yeboah is signing with the #AZCardinals. Yeboah, who attended #Chiefs minicamp on a tryout basis, heads to Arizona after missing all of last season due to injury. pic.twitter.com/wYeNJX4h04
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) June 11, 2026

Yeboah missed all of last season with a knee injury.

It's an interesting move, as the Cardinals already have an established tight end room with Trey McBride and Elijah Higgins currently at the top. Arizona does have Tip Reiman as their best blocking tight end, though he's injured at the moment.

From there, it's anybody's guess as to how the room will shake out - though Yeboah's newfound presence may have just tipped LaFleur's offensive plans.

What Cardinals Can Do Offensively

Last season, the Los Angeles Rams — where LaFleur was the offensive coordinator — helped revolutionize the league by utilizing 13 personnel (one running back, three tight ends) to create mismatches offensively.

That's not exactly news to Cardinals fans, as former offensive coordinator Drew Petzing also utilized multiple tight end sets during his tenure in Arizona.

Where the two differ is LaFleur's mentor in Rams coach Sean McVay uses the three tight end sets more so to set up the passing attack while Petzing's usage was geared more towards blocking advantages in the box.

That, combined with motion and other new wrinkles, should create different dynamics for the Cardinals.

“It probably screws the defense up more than anything,” McBride said of LaFleur's offense. “Where you're motioning down and you're inserting a guy to block a safety. And then you're motioning the guy down, now you're inserting him, he's fake blocking, now he's running a corner (route). And for the defense, it looks the exact same for them.”

McBride is a fine blocker while Higgins is more so geared towards catching the ball and a healthy Reiman is the team's top blocking tight end. Yeboah was expected to be the Jets' top primary blocking tight end before the injury, though his addition very much could signal LaFleur's intentions on 13 personnel being a heavily used facet of his offense.

With two pass catchers and two blockers at the position, the Cardinals' tight end room could be balanced yet versatile under LaFleur's attack in its first iteration.

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