PFF: Cardinals Had Best Free Agent Signing

The Arizona Cardinals made a big splash signing on Monday at the start of free agency, signing pass rusher Josh Sweat to a four-year, $76.4 million deal.

It was exactly the type of move that had to be made for the Cardinals, and adds desperately-needed juice to an extremely thin pass rush unit.

While Arizona did miss out on young DT Milton Williams, who signed with the New England Patriots, the move for Sweat immediately becomes one of the highest-profile free agent signings in recent Cardinals history.

And according to Pro Football Focus, the move was a good one.

PFF listed the five "best" moves of day one of free agency, and the signing of Sweat was among them.

Here's what PFF had to say about the big move:

"Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon thrived with a dominant pass rush during his time in Philadelphia but has struggled to replicate that success in Arizona. The Cardinals finished the 2024 season ranked 31st in team PFF pass-rush grade (58.5) and posted just a 35.5% pass-rush win rate.

"Sweat now reunites with Gannon, who served as his defensive coordinator in Philadelphia from 2021-2022—two of the best seasons of Sweat’s career. During that span, he totaled 96 pressures and 24 sacks while earning an impressive 82.3 PFF pass-rush grade across more than 830 pass-rush snaps.

"Adding Sweat to a unit that includes Baron Browning — who the Cardinals re-signed during the legal tampering period — and 2023 second-round pick BJ Ojulari, who missed 2024 due to injury, is a significant step toward improving Arizona’s pass-rushing production."

It's true, Sweat played his best football with Jonathan Gannon in Philadelphia - a sentence that seems to be frequently uttered when looking at members of the Eagles' roster from the past few seasons.

Gannon and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis haven't exactly "struggled" as the article reads, as they've been able to consistently do more with less, overcoming an abysmally low-talent and low-depth defensive front, but it was undeniably apparent that the Cardinals needed major help off the edge.

Sweat immediately brings a huge presence into that unit, and raises the collective floor and ceiling by a wide margin.

It shouldn't be the only move GM Monti Ossenfort makes to address the pass rush, but both Cardinals fans and national media seem to agree that Arizona's day one signing was one that brings a reliable, impact player to a defense that so dearly needed his services in the 2023 and 2024 seasons.