Cardinals Projected to Sign Former First-Round Pick

The Arizona Cardinals move into the 2025 offseason with cap space galore and plenty of needs across the roster.

Most notably, upgrading their outside linebacker's room is among the top priorities as the Cardinals look to turn themselves from postseason bystanders to contenders in an NFC West that only appears to be growing more open by the moment.

There's numerous options for Arizona to land a fresh presence, though the Cardinals could very well bring back a former first-round pick in Haason Reddick, who just finished a less-than-ideal campaign with the New York Jets.

The Athletic projects a reunion between the two:

Cardinals Projected to Land Haason Reddick

"The 2017 Cardinals first-round pick is a free agent after a frustrating 2024, when he was traded from the Eagles to the Jets, who both declined to grant his wishes for a long-term contract extension," wrote Mike Jones.

"Now Reddick hits the open market, and his former team makes a lot of sense. The Cardinals need pass-rushing help after no player managed more than five sacks in 2024, and the team ranked 13th in this statistic.

"After a lengthy holdout, Reddick appeared in only 10 games for the Jets, starting two of them. But he recorded double-digit sacks in the four seasons prior and could fill a big need for Arizona."

The Cardinals and Reddick were a hot rumored duo ahead of the NFL's trade deadline before nothing came to fruition and Arizona landed Baron Browning instead.

Reddick first entered the league as Arizona's first-round pick in 2017 and was vastly misused through majority of his tenure with the Cardinals as an inside linebacker until his final year with the organization - where he garnered 12.5 sacks and promptly departed the following offseason.

Reddick went on a tear the following three seasons with sack totals of 11, 16 and 11 before last year (where he was traded from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Jets before unsuccessfully holding out for a new contract) saw him net just one sack.

Reddick will be 31 later this year and could still be in search of the massive payday he wanted with the Jets, which never came to fruition.

Does he still want those high figures? And should a team such as the Cardinals take the gamble on Reddick?

Reddick very much has proven capable of producing when called upon, though only playing in ten games last season with just one sack will make that argument tough - especially with him on the wrong side of 30.