The Cardinals are down to one kicker on their 90-man roster.
Arizona announced the release of Josh Karty on Thursday afternoon. Chad Ryland is now the only kicker in Arizona.
Karty was claimed off of waivers from the Rams last season, but he never played in a game. He was 10-of-15 on field goals and 23-of-26 on extra points in eight games for the Rams in 2025.
The Cardinals also announced the signing of defensive back Isaiah Oliver. He appeared in 31 games for the Jets over the last two seasons and posted 112 tackles. He spent the 2023 season with the 49ers and spent five years with the Falcons after being drafted in the second round in 2018.
Speculation about edge rusher Josh Sweat’s future with the Cardinals has picked up over the course of his absence from the team’s offseason program, but a report on Wednesday tosses some cold water on thoughts of a trade.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Cardinals are not going to trade Sweat. Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur sent a similar message last week when asked about a report that the Cardinals have gotten trade offers from other teams.
Sweat also missed the voluntary portions of the offseason work after signing a four-year, $76.4 million deal with Arizona last year. He had 30 tackles, 12 sacks, four forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in his first season with the team.
Based on the recent word from inside and outside the organization, Sweat will get a chance to add to those totals in a Cardinals uniform this fall.
Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett is sitting out voluntary offseason practices while he seeks a new contract, which means he’s not building chemistry with wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.
Asked whether he has developed chemistry with Brissett, Harrison answered, “Not much. He’s got to be here to do that.”
Harrison added, however, that he supports his teammate seeking what he considers a fair deal.
“I’m all supportive of what he’s doing. He has to do what’s best for him and his family,” Harrison said.
Ultimately, Harrison said a quarterback and a wide receiver get on the same page by working together.
“Reps are the best thing, constant communication off the field, whether it’s meeting with him, watching film together,” Harrison said.
Harrison and Brissett aren’t doing that, and there’s no telling when or if Brissett will get a contract that’s to his satisfaction.
Larry Fitzgerald Sr., a long-time Minnesota sports reporter and the father of soon-to-be Hall of Fame receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr., has died. He was 71.
Marcus Fitzgerald, the brother of Larry Jr., announced their father’s passing on social media, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.
“It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of our father, Larry Fitzgerald Sr.,” Marcus wrote. “A devoted father, husband, grandfather, and a true pioneer in the Minnesota broadcasting community, he spent his life pouring into the people and the city he loved so much.
“He left us peacefully this afternoon, surrounded by his family and the people who loved him most.”
Larry Fitzgerald Sr. was a fixture in the Minnesota sports scene since 1978.
“The Vikings organization is saddened by the passing of Larry Fitzgerald Sr., a distinguished journalist and trusted voice in Minnesota sports for nearly 50 years,” the Vikings said in a statement. “Larry built relationships with players, coaches and staff members for each of the local teams and was recognized across the NFL, covering dozens of Super Bowls and other major events.
“Beyond his reputation in the media, Larry was a dedicated father and a community leader who cared deeply about the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Our hearts are with Larry Jr., Marcus and the entire Fitzgerald family, as well as Larry’s friends and colleagues as they mourn his loss.”
We extend our condolences to Larry Fitzgerald Sr.'s family, friends, and colleagues.
Now that the Supreme Court has declined to accept the NFL’s last-ditch effort to force all or part of the Brian Flores case into arbitration, the litigation will finally get going.
And the going could get nasty.
By way of background, I have handled many employment cases. From both sides. After working for years at a firm that focused on representing corporate clients that had been sued (no matter how strong or weak a given case may have been), I decided that I was more interested in representing individuals who had cases I believed to be strong.
So I’ve been there, done that. Many times.
Here’s the reality. No company that has been sued for wrongful termination will admit it. The witnesses will have locked into their stories months before it’s time to take the oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Proving that the party line is essentially a lie requires a relentless pursuit of circumstantial evidence to contradict the predictable denial of discrimination, retaliation, etc. (For example, if the plaintiff was fired for violating a specific workplace rule, it’s useful to show that others violated the same rule, without being fired or even disciplined.)
This means that, in the Flores case, his lawyers will aggressively pursue deposition testimony from a wide range of witnesses from the league office and the various teams that have been sued (so far, the Dolphins, Broncos, Giants, Texans, Cardinals, and Titans). Plenty of the witnesses (starting with the Commissioner and any owners) will not react well to being verbally poked, prodded, and pressed for anything beyond the predictable default position: “we didn’t do anything wrong.” These witnesses will emerge from the deposition process feeling anywhere from frustrated to flat-out pissed off.
Flores (along with the other plaintiffs, Steve Wilks and Ray Horton) will deal with the same kind of thing. The lawyers representing the NFL and its teams will look for anything they can find to make them look bad. They’ll dig and dig and dig some more to make the process as uncomfortable as it can be. They’ll throw mud at the wall. They’ll throw mud directly at the plaintiffs. They’ll try to catch them in any potential misstatement, big or small, that could then be characterized at trial as a lie.
In the deposition process, there’s a wide range of latitude when questioning a witness. With no jury present, the lawyers don’t have to worry about being so aggressive (to the point of being openly hostile) that it may alienate the people who will decide the case.
This is what I’d typically say to anyone who was interested in suing a current or former employer: “Think of the worst thing about yourself that you wouldn’t want other people to know. You don’t have to tell me what it is. Just think of what it is. Then, think of what would happen if that thing became public. And then assume that, at some point during this litigation, it will.”
The unofficial playbook for lawyers defending corporate clients against claims of illegal employment practices includes turning the tables on the plaintiff in the hopes of making the plaintiff look as bad as possible when it’s time to present the case to a jury. It gets messy. It gets ugly. And, like the Commissioner and owners who are questioned by Flores’s lawyers, Flores will emerge from his deposition feeling anywhere from frustrated to flat-out pissed off.
That’s how it goes. The discovery process becomes the legal equivalent of a street fight. Which could be bad for the league, the teams, and/or Flores, Wilks, and Horton.
As the snippets of deposition testimony come to light, it will be very good for my current business.
