Why it Never Made Sense For Cardinals to Trade Josh Sweat

It was always bad business for a Josh Sweat trade.

Oct 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals outside linebacker Josh Sweat (10) walks off the field at the end of their game against the Tennessee Titans at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images | Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals can put Josh Sweat rumors to rest.

Buzz around Sweat and what his future held in the desert heading into just his second season with the Cardinals reached drastic levels as trade rumors swirled around the team's facility in Tempe.

That went on for weeks, though a report this morning from NFL insider Ian Rapoport basically put an end to any of those trade discussions.

Now, we can move forward into the future with Sweat's future — at least for 2026 — not in question.

But trading Sweat was always going to be bad business.

Why It Never Made Sense to Trade Josh Sweat

Dec 21, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals linebacker Josh Sweat (10) against the Atlanta Falcons at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Sweat initially requested a trade after Jonathan Gannon was fired from the Cardinals at the end of 2025. The two had a great relationship, and now with Gannon running the Green Bay Packers' defense, some of the smoke around the two reuniting made sense.

Yet purely from a Cardinals roster perspective, moving off Sweat, particularly at this point in time, made absolutely zero sense.

Sweat led the Cardinals with 12.5 sacks last season. For reference, that was almost half of Arizona's 30 team sacks in 2025.

The second-highest sack leader was Calais Campbell (6.5) who is now signed with the Baltimore Ravens.

More specifically, the Cardinals' outside linebacker room outside of Sweat of Baron Browning, Zaven Collins, Jordan Burch and BJ Ojulari combined for just 5.5 sacks together.

Browning was the next highest sack-getter at two.

Arizona went the entire offseason without addressing their edge room, bypassing opportunities in free agency and the draft to add more firepower to the room.

Browning is a fine pass rusher but only in situational settings. The experiment in moving Collins to the edge has failed despite his high ability to stop the run from the outside. Burch is still an unproven commodity while Ojulari showed promise before a devastating knee injury.

All of this is to say... Sweat is the only resemblance of a proven pass rusher. Going the entire offseason without beefing that department up only to trade him for pennies on the dollar would have been a clear sign of Arizona's intentions for 2026.

Sweat still hasn't turned 30 while he's missed two games in the last three seasons. He's making under $20 million annually and has provided stellar production for his price tag.

No, Sweat shouldn't have been moved, and it's a win for Cardinals fans that he isn't.