Cardinals Won't Trade Josh Sweat — But There's One Big Catch

Noise around the Arizona Cardinals trading edge rusher Josh Sweat has been silenced — for now.

Numerous insiders, both locally and nationally, have doused a healthy dose of water on recent trade buzz surrounding Sweat in a potential move to the Green Bay Packers.

That won't happen, at least for now, but Sweat's name being linked in trade rumors is sure to rise again in the future according to those in the know.

ESPN recently dove into Sweat's future in the desert, and there's one catch to his current presence on the roster:

What ESPN Said On Arizona Cardinals Trading Josh Sweat

Dan Graziano: "The Cardinals are telling interested teams they aren't planning to trade Sweat, and I believe that to be true. No team has won or lost any games yet. Sweat is an important part of the Cardinals' defense, and if they still plan to be competitive (as most teams do at this point), the right move is to keep him. They've already paid a $7.22 million option bonus for this year and owe him $9.78 million in base salary for the season.

"However ... there certainly exists a world in which the Cardinals fall out of contention between now and the trade deadline. There have been several reports this offseason about Sweat being unhappy in Arizona and possibly wanting out. He has no guaranteed money in his contract beyond this season, and a team that hypothetically trades for him halfway through the season would have to pay him only about $5 million.

"Arizona is going to continue to get calls. Though I believe the team doesn't want to trade him, I also know these things change. And if Arizona is out of it in late October and/or Sweat indicates he doesn't want to be there anymore, you'll hear his name ahead of the deadline."

Where Things Currently Stand

This update isn't exactly a surprise, as trading Sweat at the beginning of the season never made sense. As Graziano highlighted, the Cardinals are 0-0 at this moment and there's no reason to smash the red button.

Yet.

There very well could come a time where Arizona looks to offload Sweat, especially if the Cardinals stumble out of the gates of 2026. It's important to note when going by strength of schedule, Arizona's slate of games is the toughest in the NFL.

That's not an excuse, but more so a reality for a team that moved on from their head coach and franchise quarterback this offseason. Hopes are high under new leader Mike LaFleur, but an instant turnaround shouldn't be expected.

Where Sweat fits in this puzzle is interesting to say the least. Sweat joined the Cardinals with hopes of playing under prior leader Jonathan Gannon and making a serious push at the postseason. Gannon now is gone and Arizona has one of the lowest projected win totals for 2026.

Reports of Sweat's trade request surfaced earlier this offseason, and quite honestly that's believable given the aforementioned reasons.

It does feel like the door is still very much open for a trade, though that would have to happen down the road. Perhaps the Cardinals get off on the right foot and Sweat's a big piece of the puzzle. Perhaps things change.

There's a multitude of reasonings for Sweat staying or leaving — but it truly does feel like we haven't heard the last of trade chatter, whether it be at the trade deadline or beyond this offseason.

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