The Arizona Cardinals scored a big victory on Monday. They agreed to terms with a premium free agent despite the organization’s terrible and turbulent report card.
Signing Josh Sweat was no sweat at all.
The acquisition of Sweat accomplishes three things. The Cardinals now have a pedigreed edge rusher, a Super Bowl hero who clocked 2.5 sacks on Patrick Mahomes in the Philadelphia Eagles’ stirring triumph.
Sweat is a proven threat. He had 43 career sacks in 104 games with the Eagles, good for eighth place in Philadelphia history. Thus, the Cardinals have checked off the most glaring box. Combined with re-signing their own key players (Evan Brown, Baron Browning and special teams ace Joey Blount), they have taken a big step forward.
The $76.4 million signing of Sweat also allows Cardinals fans to exhale. There was a growing fear that Michael Bidwill’s appetite for winning had dulled in recent years, an owner whose spending habits in recent years certainly paled to Suns owner Mat Ishbia and Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick.
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There was a fear that side projects (casitas), side purchases (the Cardinals reportedly own four 777s, two of which are in service), sunken costs (the expensive firing of Kliff Kingsbury), legal costs (defending lawsuits from former employees), and the commitment to a new $100 million training facility might further siphon off money for free agent pursuits.
Sweat is a big-dollar and big-name addition, the kind that will help Bidwill’s image, filling the fan base with renewed hope.
Finally, the signing runs counterintuitive to the Cardinals’ last-place finish in the NFLPA report card, where the owner received a D-minus and the locker room received an F-minus. Those are significant perceptual hurdles to overcome.
By no small measure, the Cardinals pulled it off because Jonathan Gannon was the former defensive coordinator in Philadelphia, forging a personal relationship with Sweat. And the newest Cardinals edge rusher clearly trusts his former coach.
This is enormous because there was one shining grade in that wretched NFLPA report card, a grade that stood out like a brilliant student in a classroom of chaos. Despite their lack of creature comforts and a locker room that apparently embarrasses the entire team, Gannon received an ‘A’ from his players.
Gannon is consistent and authentic. He’s honest and supportive. He has never wavered in support of Kyler Murray, the team’s most polarizing player. And with only a couple of exceptions, his teams show up to fight every week.
That means the culture in Arizona is winning the day, shining brighter than the franchise’s shoddy reputation. And that’s a great foundation to lean on until the Cardinals get their grades up.
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta mornings from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports.
Follow @danbickley
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