Category: Former Cardinals

Former Cardinals OL Korey Cunningham found dead at home in New Jersey

Cunningham was 28 years old. He was a seventh-round pick of the Cardinals in 2018.

Former Arizona Cardinals offensive lineman Korey Cunningham, age 28, was found dead in his residence Thursday, reported RLS Media.

Police and emergency medical services responded to the scene shortly before 3:30 p.m. after reports emerged of an unconscious man at the location.

Upon arrival, officials discovered Cunningham and promptly notified the medical examiner.

Per the report, Cunningham’s death was self-inflicted.

He was drafted in the seventh round by the Cardinals in 2018, starting the final six games of the season.

He was traded before the 2019 season to the New England Patriots, where he spent the last two seasons before two seasons with the New York Giants.

He appeared in a total of 31 games in his career, his only starts coming with Arizona as a rookie.

The Giants released a statement on Friday.

We are saddened to hear of the passing of Korey Cunningham. He was a vital part of the spirit and camaraderie of the locker room. Our thoughts are with Korey’s family, friends and teammates.

Offensive lineman Justin Pugh, teammates with Cunningham in 2018 in Arizona and more recently with the Giants, shared a lovely story about Cunningham.

“We would invite him to the OL dinner every week even though he wasn’t on the team [on the practice squad] which doesn’t happen…ever,” Pugh wrote on X. “Team dinners are for players on the team only. Except for Korey….solely because he was beloved by all the guys regardless if you knew him or not! He’d tell stories and we’d laugh our asses off all night.

“Today is a sad day but I’ll always remember the good times and the laughs. Everyone who knew Korey Cunningham was better for it. The world lost a great soul.”

Our hearts go out to those who knew Cunningham.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Tillman Scholars exemplify Pat Tillman’s values

More about Pat Tillman’s legacy through Tillman’s Scholars.

It’s difficult to slow down Alex Garwood when he starts talking about his brother-in-law Pat Tillman.

The 20th Pat’s Run to benefit the Pat Tillman Foundation is only five days away and two weeks (April 22) marks the 20th anniversary of Tillman’s death from friendly fire in Afghanistan. Still, what he represents remains present in the lives of those close to him.

Garwood’s wife Christine is the sister of Marie Tillman, Pat’s widow and Garwood notes, “I always just say, ‘Pat and I married sisters,’ which makes me his brother-in-law and, more importantly, offered me the opportunity to earn his friendship.”

The co-founder of the foundation and the annual run, Garwood said on the Pro Football Hall of Fame radio show last week on SiriusXM NFL radio, “My wife and I are very fortunate. We’ve got three sons and our oldest (Ryan) is 23, our middle guy (Adam) is 21 and our youngest (Scott) is 18. So I’m not super great at math, but I have two boys that Pat met and one that he never met. So something for us is kind of a selfish thing is how do we keep Pat’s memory alive. How do we share who he was with our boys?

“He’s been ever-present in their lives and it’s just something that we work on, quite frankly, daily. And then how do you then translate that from a small little world of just our small family, but how do we translate that into a foundation. How do we share it with 30,000 of our closest friends at Pat’s Run next weekend? It’s an interesting balance.”

Striking a balance

Asked about that balance and how it was manifest as his sons grew up, Garwood said, “One of the challenges that we have; you notice when I talk about Pat, I don’t say Pat Tillman because to me and to my sons, he was just Uncle Pat and the way we talk about that. And I don’t dismiss any of it because I get that it’s the Pat Tillman Foundation and I get that Pat Tillman has a display in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I get that. But we talk more about the individual and the closer contact. The reason I bring that up is there’s a balance for my sons and for my wife and I as we use him as an example for how to live right.

“Because Pat was far from perfect. I think he gets held up sometimes in this great way. But it’s also great to be able to say to our sons, ‘Look, Pat was great because he investigated and thought and asked questions and then made a decision based on convictions and then did what he thought was right. Wasn’t always perfect.’ So it’s great to be able to hold him (up) as an example, but know that he was fallible and I think that is so important because if you’re striving for perfection and you miss you can’t be disappointed. If you’re striving for greatness and fall slightly short, well, that’s awesome. So I really give Pat a lot of credit for that and that it was a wonderful example but not unattainable. It was a wonderful example but not something that was too perfect.”

Garwood becomes even more passionate when he talks about Tillman’s values and how they are kept alive.

“Just because you’re fast, it might make you a great wide receiver, but it doesn’t necessarily make you a great human,” Garwood said. “I do think we hold (up) Pat because he was a phenomenal athlete and a crazy good football player and an amazing athlete. He played the hardest game on the planet and played it at an exceptional level. With all of that, he’s this human that marries his high-school sweetheart, was always loyal to her, includes her in all decisions. They were a team. He stays with his local team instead of signing for millions. He does all that and oh, and by the way, continues to push himself in the offseason, runs a marathon the next year, does a half Ironman. Who does that? Pat did. He was going to graduate school and getting his master’s in history. Doesn’t tell anyone. He just does all of those things.”

The Tillman Scholars

“To segue that with our foundation; our attempt is to carry forward Pat’s legacy. How do you do that? It’s incredibly complicated, but we’re doing that through 900 men and women who are called Tillman Scholars and they are men and women who have served or are spouses of those who have served. Some are currently serving and I will tell you this: when you spend time with a Tillman Scholar, most of it is inspiring. Most of it makes you want to do more. It’s also intimidating as hell because they are so incredible and you’re thinking to yourself, ‘I sell software for a living.’ But they are so incredible and those men and women range across the board of all services, all branches, all walks of life and some of them are doctors. You’ve got your Navy Seal who was a corpsman who got tired of watching his guys die and heal and is now a doctor. You have folks like that.

“But you also have men and women that are first in their family to go get their undergraduate degree and are going back to the tough areas where they grew up and are making a difference. We like to say when you have the opportunity to spend time with a Tillman Scholar, ask them not about themselves because they’re incredibly humble, but you ask a Tillman Scholar about the person that they are standing next to and the Tillman Scholar brags about the next Tillman Scholar and I promise you, you will be inspired to do and to act much like our friend Pat.”

To become inspired, visit The Pat Tillman Foundation website.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Brahmas, BattleHawks win UFL Saturday games

A couple of former Cardinals played roles in UFL wins on Saturday for the Brahmas and BattleHawks.

Week 2 of the UFL began Saturday with two games. A former Arizona Cardinals player had a hand in a win in the first of the two games.

San Antonio Brahmas 20, Memphis Showboats 19

The San Antonio Brahmas scored two touchdowns in the final minute, including the game-winning score with three seconds left to beat the Memphis Showboats.

Chase Garbers threw three touchdown passes in the win, including one to Jontre Kirklin with 48 seconds left in the game. Kirklin spent the 2022 preseason with the Cardinals as a rookie free agent.

BattleHawks 27, Renegades 24

St. Louis quarterback A.J. McCarron threw two touchdown passes to former receiver Marcel Ateman and kicker Andre Szmyt made two fourth-quarter field goals, including a 22-yarder as time expired for the win.

Ateman had four catches for 114 yards and two scores.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Pat Tillman has a place in Canton with Hall of Famers

In a mosaic of football cards at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Pat Tillman’s card is included, the only player in it who is not a Hall of Famer.

There is a unique display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, that includes former Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman.

The tale was told during a discussion about Tillman on the Pro Football Hall of Fame radio show on SiriusXM NFL Radio Wednesday.

Alex Garwood, co-founder of the Pat Tillman Foundation and Pat’s Run that will take place for the 20th time on April 13, was on the show co-hosted by me and Rich Desrosiers, the chief communications and content officer at the Hall.

Desrosiers relayed how a Tillman football card wound up on a large display on a wall of the Hall along with many Hall of Famers.

He explained, “A display of football cards that probably totals at least 500 cards is this mosaic of what is supposed to be exclusively members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And we learn after this wall of 500 cards is put together there is a singular card in this collection. How it came to be, how it came to be inserted in the pack it was pulled from I’m not exactly sure. I’m not sure our staff is exactly sure. But it’s Pat Tillman.”

Desrosiers then told Garwood, Tillman’s brother-in-law, what happened next.

“It’s on the wall and a couple of people step back from the wall and they have a decision to make,” Desrosiers said. “Do they pull the card down and replace it with a Hall of Famer or do we leave it up there to tell a different story? And we have decided since this display went up a couple of years ago to leave the card up.”

That leads to some interesting moments as Desrosiers noted, “We challenge people, ‘Hey find the card on this wall that isn’t a Hall of Famer’ and whether they do or don’t, eventually we point it out to them and it gives us an opportunity to not just tell Pat’s story in the singular aspect, but to tell Pat’s story as we have here today in the context of there are Hall of Fame values beyond running, blocking, tackling and passing that will outlive the football message that will endure.”

That prompted Garwood to thank Desrosiers for telling the story and saying, “What an honor for him to be included in that wall and then the flip side, for those men to be included next to him.”

Photo by Rich Desrosiers

While Tillman doesn’t have a bust in the Hall, there’s no question that the words “Hall of Fame” describe Pat Tillman in terms of the mission of the Hall and how he is a Hall of Famer in so many other ways.

As the Hall’s mission statement succinctly says:

“Honor the greatest of the game. Preserve its history. Promote its values. Celebrate excellence together.”

Tillman surely lived those words.

The show on SiriusXM will air again Arizona time from 2-4 am Saturday, and Sunday from 5-7 am and 3-5 pm. It can also be heard on demand on the SiriusXM app.

The segment begins at about the 35-minute mark and here is the link for the entire show.

Here is the clip about the football card:

Visit the Pat Tillman Foundation site for more information about it and the annual Pat’s Run. 

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Former Cardinals OL Josh Jones lands with Ravens

Jones was drafted by the Cardinals in 2020 and was traded to the Texans last year. Now a free agent for the first time, he signs with Baltimore.

Former Arizona Cardinals offensive lineman Josh Jones has a new team in his first experience in free agency. According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Jones has signed with the Baltimore Ravens.

Jones was drafted in the third round by the Cardinals in 2020. In three seasons, he appeared in 47 games and started 21 at guard and tackle.

He was traded to the Houston Texans last year before the season along with a seventh-round pick in exchange for Houston’s fifth-round selection. After joining the Texans, he played in 13 games, starting three. He played in 227 offensive snaps in 2023 for Houston after 853 and 624 the previous two seasons for the Cardinals.

He is expected to be a depth player for the Ravens.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Hooray for Hollywood: Good Guy lands with Super Bowl champs

Brown is excited to show things with the Chiefs he hasn’t shown in his career yet. He is betting on himself.

Hollywood, we hardly knew you.

Yes, we knew wide receiver Marquise (Hollywood) Brown well enough for the local chapter of the PFWA to award him the Steve Schoenfeld Good Guy Award for his cooperation with the media during the 2023 season.

However, on the field, things never worked out as expected after the Cardinals acquired him from the Ravens during the first round of the 2022 draft.

If truth be told, the Cardinals are where they are now in large part because of the six-game suspension levied on wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins shortly before the draft that year.

Coming off an 11-6 playoff season, the team was in a tough spot. Knowing they would be without Hopkins at the start of the season, rather than add center Tyler Linderbaum with their No. 1 pick, the decision was made to add Brown, who had requested a trade after a season in which he caught 91 passes for 1,008 yards and six touchdowns and would be reunited with quarterback Kyler Murray, his teammate at Oklahoma.

You know what they say about best-laid plans. As the days were being counted down to Week 7, when Brown and Hopkins would be on the field together, Brown suffered a foot injury late in Week 6 against the Seahawks and missed the next five games.

The Cardinals defeated New Orleans in Hopkins’ season debut to move to 3-4, but won one game the remainder of the season. When Brown returned, he played essentially one game with Murray, who tore his ACL early in the next game against the Patriots.

Last season, with Hopkins off to Tennessee and Murray rehabbing his knee, Brown played five games with Murray, but in two, he played limited snaps grinding through another foot injury before missing the final three games.

In all, the expected dynamic duo played a total of 10 healthy games together.

In his two Cardinals seasons that totaled 26 games, Brown had 118 receptions for 1,283 yards and seven scores.

There was the thought that he might return on a one-year, incentive-laden contract, but the lure of the Chiefs was too enticing.

Brown told the Kansas City media Monday he informed his agent as free agency approached that he was interested in the Chiefs. The interest was mutual and Brown bet on himself (and quarterback Patrick Mahomes), signing a one-year, $7 million contract that includes $6.5 million guaranteed and $4 million of incentives. His salary cap charge is $8.206 million.

“When the Chiefs are interested in you, it’s like, alright, you’ve gotta take a look at that,” Brown said. “Of course, I can go get some money at other places. But at the end of the day, it’s about winning. It’s about what I want. And I feel like everything just worked out the way it should.

“It was other opportunities out there for sure. But I’m happy with the decision. I’m happy where I’m at. And at the end of the day, I’m a kid that comes from nothing. So the amount of money I’ve made so far in my life is a blessing to me. But I’m a football player, you know? I want to play football, I want to win, I want to be part of a winner. And that’s why I’m here.”

The Chiefs released speedy receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling on Feb. 28 after a season in which he had a mere 21 receptions for 315 yards (15.0 average) and one touchdown.

As Brown concluded, “I feel like I can affect all three levels of the game — short, intermediate, and deep. I feel like at times in Baltimore and in Arizona, I showed facets of things that I can do, but not on a consistent basis. So I feel like here, it’s guys around, interchangeable. We can complete each other. And that way, the best can come out of everyone.

“Being in this system, I feel like I’ll be able to showcase my skill set. I still feel like there’s a lot of my game that I really haven’t gotten to show people. And that’s probably what I’m excited about the most being here, is to just put my best foot forward and show what I can do.”

Hopefully, for him, that foot will be healed and hold up. If it does, too bad he won’t be doing it here, but the Cardinals move on in the reset that truly began 23 months ago.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Hollywood Brown’s contract with Chiefs very reasonable

The former Cardinals WR gets a nice one-year deal that pays him up to $11 million based on playing time, touchdowns and receiving yards.

The Arizona Cardinals lost receiver Marquise Brown in free agency to the Kansas City Chiefs. Brown got a one-year deal to join the defending champions.

The details of the contract are out, shared by Albert Breer.

It is basically a one-year, $7 million deal.

He gets a $3 million signing bonus and a base salary of $3.5 million. He will get a $250,000 workout bonus for participating in the offseason program at the team facility. He can make up to $250,000 in per-game roster bonuses.

That is the $7 million.

He can earn up to $4 million in incentives.

Up to $1 million comes in touchdowns. He will make $500K for five scores, $750K for six and the full $1 million for seven touchdowns.

Up to $1.5 million comes in playing time. If he plays 45% of the Chiefs’ offensive snaps, he will make $500K. That goes up to $625K if he reaches 52.5%, then to $750K if he reaches 60% and a mac of $1.5 million for 75% of the snaps.

Another $1.5 million can be earned through yardage. He will make $500K for 500 yards, $625K for 625 yards, $750K for 750 yards and the full $1.5 million if he reaches 1,000 on the season.

These terms look like a deal the Cardinals easily could have made if they wanted him back, unless he was only willing to structure the deal like that for the defending champs and to be able to play with Patrick Mahomes.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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Josh Dobbs lands with 49ers

Dobbs joins an NFC West rival to back up QB Brock Purdy after starting eight games for the Cardinal in 2023.

Quarterback Josh Dobbs is not one of the Arizona Cardinals’ free agents. They traded him to the Minnesota Vikings before the trade deadline.

He has a new team in 2024.

According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Dobbs is signing with the San Francisco 49ers, getting a fully guaranteed one-year, $2.25 million contract with up to $750,000 in incentives.

He is lined up to be Brock Purdy’s backup for the 49ers.

Dobbs started the first eight games of the season for the Cardinals last season after they acquired him from the Cleveland Browns before the season. He went 1-7, completing 62.8% of his passes for 1,569 yards, eight touchdown passes and five interceptions. He also rushed for three touchdowns.

He was traded to Minnesota with a seventh-round pick in exchange for a sixth-rounder and then started three games for the Vikings before getting benched for the final four games of the season.

Now he will get to face the Cardinals (although perhaps not playing) twice in 2024.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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DT Leki Fotu headed to Jets

Fotu gets a deal worth as much as $4 million to join the Jets.

The Arizona Cardinals have lost their first free agent of the offseason. After they agreed to terms with two defensive linemen, one of their own is on the way out.

According to multiple reports, Leki Fotu is headed to the New York Jets.

Fotu, a fourth-round pick in 2020, spent four years in Arizona. He became a starter last season, playing 11 games. He had a career-high 2.5 sacks to go with 28 total tackles, five tackles for loss and two quarterback hits.

He was the only player remaining on the team from the Cardinals’ 2020 draft class. Four years after that class, no one remains on the team.

He joins former San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw in the AFC East.

According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, it is a $2.5 million deal (seemingly for one year) with a max of $4 million.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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Zach Ertz, Kliff Kingsbury reunited in Washington

Ertz gets a one-year contract worth up to $5 million to play for the Washington Commanders in 2024, where Kingsbury is OC.

The Arizona Cardinals fired Kliff Kingsbury as head coach over a year ago and released tight end Zach Ertz last season. The two will work together again.

According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Ertz has agreed to a one-year contract to sign with the Washington Commanders, where Kingsbury is now the offensive coordinator under new head coach Dan Quinn.

Ertz, 33 years old, played in seven games for the Cardinals in 2023, catching 27 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown. He went on injured reserve with a quad injury before asking for his release, which was granted. He later signed with the Detroit Lions’ practice squad in the playoffs but was never elevated and did not play for them.

Kingsbury loved Ertz when he coached him in Arizona. After the Cardinals acquired him via trade in 2021, he caught 56 passes in 11 games, which give him a tie for the franchise single-season record for receptions by a tight end before Trey McBride broke that record last season.

The one-year deal is worth up to $5 million, Pelissero reports.

The Cardinals will face Ertz, Kingsbury and the Commanders at State Farm Stadium in 2024.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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