The Cardinals are projected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL this season, with oddsmakers listing them as underdogs in every game. One of their best players, edge rusher Josh Sweat, and their presumed starting quarterback, Jacoby Brissett, are not participating in the voluntary offseason program.
Brissett wants a pay raise for this season, while the Cardinals are getting trade calls for Sweat.
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New head coach Mike LaFleur reiterated that he is not worried about any player’s absence.
“The few guys that weren’t out there that you guys probably saw today, very much we knew that they weren’t going to be here and a lot of it was planned,” LaFleur said, via NFL.com.
Brissett, 33, is entering the second year of a two-year deal he signed in March 2025. He is scheduled to make $4.88 million in 2026, with a max value of $5.39 million, but only $1.5 million is guaranteed.
Despite LaFleur bringing a new scheme, the coach cites Brissett’s 10 seasons across six teams.
“Like I said, you’d be hard-pressed to see if Jacoby hasn’t done most of what we are doing physically,” LaFleur said. “It’s word association from that point and cadences and all that kind of stuff. The hardest thing to teach a player is the speed of the game — an NFL game, in general. He’s played a lot of ball, so, he’ll be just fine.”
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Sweat led the team with a career-high 12 sacks last season. He had signed a four-year, $76.4 million deal with the Cardinals to reunite with coach Jonathan Gannon, who was Sweat’s defensive coordinator in Philadelphia for two seasons.
“I don’t even read into the offers,” LaFleur said. “I’m just excited about the fact that I don’t have to game plan against this guy. I got to know him when I first got this job. He’s a good dude. He goes about his process, and he’s not the first guy to go about his process the way he is in terms of how he’s training and all that.”
Sweat skipped the offseason program last season, too.
Arizona will hold a mandatory minicamp on June 8-10, which will result in a fine of $107,911 for any player who misses all three days.