Cardinals To Acquire TE Hunter Long From Jaguars

Previously traded to L.A. from Miami in the 2023 Jalen Ramsey swap, Long overlapped with LaFleur there. The Cards will now take on the ex-Dolphin draftee’s two-year, $5.5MM Jags-designed deal. By moving this contract after one season, Jacksonville will save $2.38MM in cap space.

The Jags used Long at a career-best 41% snap rate in his Duval County one-off last season. Long’s Los Angeles departure preceded the Rams dabbling with three-TE looks, but the former Dolphins third-round pick still logged a career-high 279 offensive snaps during his 2024 L.A. season.

Hip and knee injuries cut Long’s Jags season short. He went down in Week 9, and although no IR move commenced, Long played in only one more game the rest of the season. Jacksonville extended receiving tight end Brenton Strange this offseason and used second- and fifth-round picks to address the position in the draft. Blocking TE Nate Boerkircher arrived in Round 2, with Tanner Koziol joining the team in Round 5 of a draft that brought Jags criticism for perceived value reaches. Fellow blocker Quintin Morris would have a shot to stay on a four-TE depth chart configuration, the Florida Times-Union’s Ryan O’Halloran tweets.

Trey McBride anchors Arizona’s tight end contingent, and ex-Dolphin Elijah Higgins is present as well. The Cards have Tip Reiman on the reserve/PUP list; Reiman not being moved to the 53-man roster today would mean a four-game absence while on the reserve/PUP list. Teagan Quitoriano is also on Arizona’s roster at the position, but it looks like Higgins and Long will be McBride’s top complementary pieces here to open the season.

Long has primarily served as a blocker on his teams, catching only 20 passes through five NFL seasons. He will be asked to complement McBride, who is coming off leading the NFL in tight end yardage and setting a Cardinals single-season record at the position.