Cardinals RB Named Cut Candidate

The Arizona Cardinals tout the fourth-most effective cap space in the NFL according to OverTheCap with $72.9 million.

Needless to say, there's not a ton of avenues the Cardinals need to take in order to be comfortable with spending money in free agency this offseason.

Still, teams are always looking for ways to trim fat off their spending, and in NBC Sports' list of cut candidates for all 32 clubs, running back DeeJay Dallas was listed as Arizona's name to watch.

DeeJay Dallas Listed as Cardinals Cut Candidate

"The Cardinals only have two players who save the team more than $4 million if cut: Jalen Thompson and Trey McBride. Neither player is going anywhere. That leaves the team with few options to save cap space," wrote Kyle Dvorchak.

"With $76 million to spend in the offseason, the lack of easy cuts isn’t an issue. Dallas is a solid special teamer and even recorded the first kick-six under the NFL’s new kickoff rules. The Cardinals also have Emari Demercado, who also returns kicks and handles RB3 duties on offense. The team doesn’t need to cut Dallas, but he could be competing with Demercado for a roster spot."

Truth be told, the Cardinals don't have a ton of true cut candidates on the roster.

You'll see plenty about safety Jalen Thompson or tackle Jonah Williams - and there's arguments to be made for both - but that's about it in terms of players who might make sense.

That's a byproduct of general manager Monti Ossenfort hitting the reset button in a massive way in 2023, parting with some hefty (and expensive) players.

It's still too early to cut some of last year's free agents (Justin Jones and Sean Murphy-Bunting), though 2026 would be primetime to do so if neither perform up to par.

As far as Dallas goes, he was part of a Cardinals special teams unit that was considered one of the best in the league last season.

"(I) feel really good about DeeJay. DeeJay is such an unsung hero for us from an energy standpoint through the week," said head coach Jonathan Gannon during the 2024 season.

"What he does on fourth down, he is ready to go in on first, second, third down with the offense. This guy's a warrior man. He is an alpha dog and I'm so glad we have him. This guy is lights out all the time, every day.”

Dallas' savings ($2.4 million) doesn't really move the needle on cutting him - it'd be tough to sell that for everything that he does.