Dec 7, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Trent Sherfield Sr. (81) against the Los Angeles Rams at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

These 8 Cardinals Just Became Free Agents

Originally posted on Arizona Cardinals on SI
By Donnie Druin | Last updated Jan 12, 2026 2:28 PM ET

ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals saw eight players officially hit free agency after their practice squad contracts expired today.

All of Jared Bartlett, Wyatt Bowles, Marques Cox, Denzel Daxon, Jermar Jefferson, Trent Sherfield, Steven Sims and Logan Woodside are now free to sign with any team.

The following practice squad players contracts expired today for the Arizona Cardinals: pic.twitter.com/eVFN1HodQR
— Bo Brack (@BoBrack) January 12, 2026

This happened across the league for teams currently not in the playoffs. The Cardinals could opt to bring back any of those aforementioned players on future/reserve contracts if desired.

The Cardinals finished with a 3-14 record this season and fired head coach Jonathan Gannon, which has prompted an expansive search for Arizona that currently includes up to ten candidates.

"Comes down to wins and losses, and there were several games in which we had a chance to win those games when injuries weren't as much of a factor, and we didn't win them. You guys witnessed those same games," Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said on firing Gannon.

"I think, again, the person that can impact the wins [is a head coach] and you look across [the NFL], those teams that are in the playoffs with new coaches that have turned those franchises around fast and their their fortunes on the field. We just felt like, when you look at how much we had regressed this year, we felt like the best option for us was to go in a different direction with the head coach."

It certainly doesn't help all three NFC West teams are on to the Divisional Round of the NFC playoffs, leaving Arizona in the dust after going 0-6 within the division.

Their current coaching search involves seven candidates with current or recent experience within the NFC West. You can read more about Arizona's trends within the coaching search here.

The Cardinals' roster has certainly been a topic of conversation entering the offseason, especially with the mountain of injuries suffered in Arizona. By the end of the year the Cardinals practically were using practice squad players at premier positions on both sides of the ball.

"We got hit very hard this year. We did, and it's hard to overcome that volume," said Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort.

"But injuries are inevitable in the NFL season. And if you go back to the end of last year and into the beginning of this year, things were not going — just the totality of the entire direction of the football operation just wasn't going in the right direction. So injuries certainly played a part of that but we wanted to look at a big picture of where we were as a football team."