Are the Arizona Cardinals open to trading defensive standout Josh Sweat?
NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported Tuesday the Cardinals “have received trade calls on Pro Bowl DE Josh Sweat,” and noted, “Sweat had 12 sacks last season in his first year with Arizona and had a close relationship with Jonathan Gannon, whom the Cardinals moved on from.”
That last detail is interesting: does it imply that Sweat is dissatisfied with the currant Cardinals structure, or does it go so far as to suggest he may want to follow his former coach to his new home in Green Bay?
There are plenty of questions around Schultz’s report. The most important one? Whether this information is out there because Arizona is actually open to shopping Sweat around. If that’s the case, the Patriots should pick up the phone now.
On paper, New England’s linebackers and overall pass rush raise some of the biggest questions on the roster. Injury sidelined Harold Landry III in the playoffs, and Robert Spillane similarly dealt with health issues during the Patriots’ deep postseason run. They moved on from their second-best sacks generator, as K’Lavon Chaisson signed with the Washington Commanders in free agency. Even when the 2025 unit was healthy, the Patriots were a pedestrian 18th in the league in sacks-per-game and 26th in total sacks with 35.
Sacks don’t mean everything in generating pressure on a quarterback, but it would be nice to have a 28-year-old with Sweat’s resume. He tallied a previous career-high 11 sacks with the Eagles in 2022 and had back-to-back seasons with 23 quarterback hits per that year and the following in Philadelphia. He’s proven he can show up in the playoffs as well, having recorded 2.5 sacks during the Eagles’ 2024 Super Bowl championship postseason run.
It would be unusual for Arizona to move on from a player they just signed last year. Assuming they actually deal him, they’d only incur a $5.5 million dead cap hit if they traded Sweat after June 1st, (also known as ‘AJ Brown Day’ in New England). Sweat carries a hefty cap hit with him for the next two years, but trading for him means three years of control on a player whose health and availability has been outstanding.
An immediate trade comp could be linebacker Jonathan Greenard. The Eagles traded two third-round picks to the Minnesota Vikings for Greenard and a seventh-rounder this spring, but Greenard required surgery on his left shoulder December and had a significantly less productive year than during his previous two seasons, (he generated just three sacks compared to 12 in 2024 and 12.5 in 2023).
It’s also worth wondering how many big swing trades the Patriots would actually try. Adam Schefter doubles down on the eventuality of Brown in Foxborough every week, and it’s difficult to imagine New England’s front office parting with this huge amount of draft capital in one offseason. The last thing Eliot Wolf wants in 2027 is a cupboard that’s bare if the team suffers a significant regression.
Still, the Sweat report is a curious one, and he could certainly solve a problem for New England.
