Cardinals Show Interest in 5 Free Agents

Per the NFL's transaction wire, the Arizona Cardinals have worked out the following five linebackers after their Week 1 win against the New Orleans Saints:

Trace Ford, Nick Morrow, Antwaun Powell-Ryland, Duke Riley, Channing Tindall

This comes after backup inside linebacker and fourth-round pick Cody Simon was injured with a concussion on Sunday. Head coach Jonathan Gannon didn't have an update for reporters when he did his Monday press conference.

Ford was an edge rusher at Oklahoma during his college season and was undrafted this past Spring before landing with the New York Giants - who released him on roster cut down day.

Morrow - who is 30 - won Super Bowl LIX with the Philadelphia Eagles after picking him up in mid January. As a middle linebacker he's played in over 100 games with 58 starts.

Powell-Ryland was a sixth-round pick by the Eagles in the 2025 NFL Draft but didn't make the final roster - ultimately re-signing with their practice squad before being released again on Sep. 5. As an edge rusher, he played at Florida and Virginia Tech.

Riley, another edge rusher, has been in the league since 2017 after being made a third-round pick out of LSU. He's played 124 games in eight seasons and recently was a rotational piece for the Miami Dolphins.

Tindall - also playing with the Dolphins recently but as a middle linebacker - was a third-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He didn't play any defensive snaps last year in Miami but was a key special teams contributor.

Gannon spent a good amount of time discussing the defensive side of the ball after Arizona's Week 1 win, specifically his pass rush:

“I always think we can affect the passer a little bit better, but what goes into that is how they chose to play us. You have to have a little bit of understanding of when they’re going tempo the whole game and they’re getting the ball out really fast," said Gannon.

"A lot of those throws came in less than two seconds. There could be nobody out there and the ball’s getting out there before they hit them, so I always think we have to do a better job with that. I do think especially this next week too, and it’s almost like every week, but some of the times that he (Saints QB Spencer Rattler) got out when we’re four-man rushing we kind of lost our rush leverage and we have to do a better job of that. We’ll get it cleaned up.”

The Cardinals play host to the Carolina Panthers this week.