Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals have signed free agent offensive lineman Olisaemeka Udoh to a one-year deal, the team announced Friday.

Udoh, 29, spent last season with the Titans, playing all 17 games. He made two starts at right tackle and one at left tackle, while playing 341 offensive snaps and 65 on special teams.

The Vikings made Udoh a sixth-round pick in 2019.

He has appeared in 74 games with 22 starts.

Udoh has made 14 starts at right guard, four at left tackle, three at right tackle and one at left guard.

He is the fourth offensive lineman the Cardinals have added in free agency, joining Isaac Seumalo, who will start at left guard, Matt Pryor and Elijah Wilkinson. Still, the Cardinals are expected to select at least one offensive tackle during the three-day draft, and University of Miami’s Francis Mauigoa is a popular choice for them in mock drafts.

It’s been more than four years since Brian Flores filed his landmark race discrimination lawsuit against the NFL and various teams. The case remains stuck at square one.

The six teams that are the subject of claims made by Flores, Steve Wilks, and Ray Horton — the Dolphins, Giants, Broncos, Texans, Cardinals, and Titans — continue to seek a stay of the proceedings, pending multiple different appeals. This week, the presiding judge declined to stay the litigation.

Currently, the Giants, Broncos, and Texans have a petition for appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court on the question of whether the claims made against them require mandatory arbitration. A ruling is expected within the next month or so. (The Supreme Court first has to accept the appeal before resolving the issue.)

The Dolphins, Cardinals, and Titans more recently had their efforts to force arbitration denied. That will inevitably be the subject of another petition for appeal to the Supreme Court, based on the broader conclusion that the NFL’s entire system of arbitration controlled by the NFL has been struck down.

Like most defendants to civil litigation, there’s value in slowing the process down as much as possible. Flores, Wilks, and Horton want to move the case along.

While, like all parties in civil cases, appeal rights can be exercised as to certain issues before the case has ended, there’s a point at which justice delayed becomes justice denied. It has been more than four years. At some point, it’s time to start addressing the merits of the case, and to stop spinning the wheels of the court system on the threshold question of where and how the case is going to be litigated.

As to the notion that the case would have moved faster if the plaintiffs had accepted the league’s arbitration procedures (even if the process is inherently rigged against them), consider this — the league’s designated arbitrator (according to the plaintiffs) did nothing with the claims for more than a year.

A defendant to a civil case can run, but it cannot hide. Unfortunately, the NFL and the six teams that have been sued have managed to run an ultramarathon in the effort to avoid having to answer the specific claims that Flores, Wilks, and Horton have made.

Common sense suggests that, if the NFL and the six teams had any real confidence in its arguments on the merits, they would eventually stand and fight instead.

Well, that didn’t take long.

Only eight days after the Cardinals released Kyler Murray, the team has a new No. 1 on their roster.

Linebacker Mack Wilson announced in a video on social media that he is taking over the jersey number previously worn by Murray.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft wore No. 1 during his seven seasons with the Cardinals.

It will be the fifth number worn by Wilson.

He wore No. 51 in three seasons with the Browns, No. 30 in his first season in New England and No. 3 in his second season there and No. 2 in the past two seasons with the Cardinals. The NFL relaxed its jersey number restrictions in 2023, which, among other things, allowed linebackers to wear single-digit numbers.

The Cardinals obviously had no problem giving away Murray’s number after he finished his time in Arizona ranked second in team history in completions (1,864), third in passing yards (19,498) and third in passing touchdowns (115). He did not win a playoff game, starting only one in his time with the team.

Murray is not currently listed with a jersey number on the Vikings’ roster.

Free agent wide receiver Greg Dortch is signing a one-year deal with the Lions, NFL Media reports.

Dortch reunites with new Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, who coached Dortch the past three seasons in Arizona.

Dortch, 27, has spent the past five seasons with the Cardinals.

In 2025, he played 12 games with three starts, seeing action on 292 offensive snaps and 103 on special teams. Dortch averaged 11.6 yards on 16 punt returns and 26.2 yards on 31 kickoff returns, while catching 29 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns.

He began his NFL career with the Panthers in 2019.

In six seasons, Dortch has 145 receptions for 1,310 yards and 10 touchdowns, with an 8.9-yard per punt return average and a 23.6-yard per kickoff return average.

Dortch will replace Kalif Raymond, who is leaving Detroit for Chicago after five seasons.

The Colts signed a pair of players on Wednesday.

Indianapolis announced receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither have both joined the club.

Westbrook-Ikhine, 28, spent last season with the Dolphins after playing for the Titans for five seasons. While he appeared in 15 games with three starts, he caught just 11 passes for 89 yards.

In 2024, Westbrook-Ikhine caught 32 passes for 497 yards with nine TDs.

Davis-Gaither is reuniting with defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who coached him with the Bengals. He appeared in 17 games with 13 starts for the Cardinals last season, recording a career-high 117 total tackles.

A fourth-round pick in 2020, David-Gaither played his first five seasons for the Bengals.

Arizona has added a tight end.

The Cardinals announced on Wednesday that Teagan Quitoriano has signed with the team on a one-year contract.

Quitoriano, 26, was a Houston fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft, effectively spending his first three seasons with the club. He caught nine passes for 33 yards with two touchdowns with the Texans. He signed with the Falcons last March, appearing in 17 games with one start in 2025.

Teagan was mainly used as a special teams player, as he was on the field for 54 percent of the unit’s snaps last season. He played just 12 percent of offensive snaps.

Additionally, the Cardinals announced the previously reported signing of Devin Duvernay to a one-year deal.

The last two seasons of A.J. Green’s 12-year NFL career were spent in Arizona, playing with Rondale Moore, who was in the first two seasons of his NFL career. Green became like family to Moore.

Last month, Green lost a member of his family when Moore took his own life. People who knew Moore say he became increasingly depressed at his inability to play after suffering season-ending injuries during the preseason each of the last two years. Green says it’s time for the NFL to do more to look after players’ mental health while they’re dealing with setbacks to their physical health.

“To me there’s a lot that could still be improved in the NFL, as far as how the league is helping its players with their mental health,” Green wrote at ThePlayersTribune.com. “And one way I would start is by making it mandatory, if you have a major injury, that you see an independent mental health counselor as part of your rehab. And by also making it mandatory, if you have a second major injury, that you see an independent mental health counselor for an extended period of time, even after your rehab.”

Green also says NFL teams need to embrace mental health care as something normal and positive for players to seek, and not look down on players who struggle with their mental health.

“None of that means anything if the people who are making the football decisions, in private, are viewing mental health issues how I feel like a lot of times they still get viewed: as a red flag. That’s the truth. No one in any front office will ever say it out loud. No scout is ever gonna put it in a scouting report. But that’s how it’s viewed in this league by a lot of people,” Green wrote. “And as long as that’s the case? Stories like Rondale’s will probably keep happening. Because it means we’re telling players that having a mental health issue is gonna fuck with their money. And if we’re telling players that, then we’re creating an incentive for them to lie about their mental health. And if players lie about their mental health, then they’re going to feel shame about their mental health. And they’re not going to get the help they need — and whatever issues they’re facing are not going to get better, and are probably going to get worse.”

Green’s reflections on Moore’s life and death are powerful. The NFL and its teams should listen.

On Monday morning, before the Chiefs traded for former Jets quarterback Justin Fields, someone was throwing spaghetti on the question of whether Kansas City was eyeing Russell Wilson as Patrick Mahomes insurance.

With the Chiefs off the board, what’s next for Wilson?

His days as a starting quarterback have ended. The only teams with a current vacancy at the top of the depth chart are the Cardinals and the Steelers. A Pittsburgh reunion is highly unlikely, even if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t return.

The Raiders possibly, maybe would be interested in a short-term bridge, if they aren’t comfortable with putting Fernando Mendoza on the field right away. Wilson may not be inclined to once again be the three-game starter before getting the tap.

Then again, Wilson may not have many choices. Which raises the question of whether he’s willing to take whatever he can get, making him one of the very rare former franchise quarterbacks who’ll accept being No. 2 or No. 3 on a depth chart.

Joe Flacco, who was twice the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL, is and has been willing to do that. Most of the guys who were once at or among the top of the market won’t accept anything other than a gift-wrapped starting job.

It can’t be easy for a guy who has spent so much time as “the guy” to accept becoming “just another guy.” But it happens to any pro football player who stays beyond the shelf life of his high-end skills.

In preparation for his current shot at free agency, Wilson parted ways with his longtime agent, Mark Rodgers, and hired David Mulugheta of Athletes First. During Wilson’s best years, it helped him to have an agent who had one and only one NFL client; the negotiations on Wilson’s contracts were never compromised by the agent’s broader business interests as to other players he represented.

Now, Wilson needs the help of someone who may have the league-wide goodwill to get Wilson a roster spot in exchange for keeping the agent happy as to the looming negotiations with a higher-profile client.

The mere fact that Wilson made the change represents an acknowledgement, conscious or not, that things have changed for him. He still has a high degree of confidence in his skills. Which isn’t surprising. For all NFL players, confidence that borders on delusion is a must.

At some point, however, the basis for the confidence evaporates. By the end of last season, Wilson had slipped behind Jameis Winston on the Giants’ depth chart.

Wilson’s third foray into free agency continues. Two years ago, he took the minimum from the Steelers because the Broncos owed him $39 million. This time around, the minimum salary of $1.3 million may be Wilson’s only option.

And the overriding question will be whether, after earning more than $315 million in his career, he’s willing to commit seven or more months for the smallest payday since signing his slotted four-year, $2.996 million deal as a third-round pick, 14 years ago.

As college football becomes increasingly professional, programs aren’t only offering money to players to get them to transfer, they’re also offering jersey numbers. But not in the case of the No. 11 jersey at USC. That was retired in honor of Matt Leinart, and he says it’s staying retired.

“When I was at USC, I got my number retired,” Leinart said on his Throwbacks Podcast. “You win the Heisman Trophy, automatic retired number, which is pretty cool. So, our jerseys are hanging in the Coliseum on one side.”

Leinart said USC has approached him about unretiring the number, when top recruits have wanted to wear No. 11 at USC. Leinart won’t agree to it.

“There’s been multiple times where people at USC have asked me if I would unretire my jersey for some five-star prospect,” Leinart said. “And do you want to know what I told those guys straight up? I said, ‘Absolutely fucking not.’ I am never going to unretire my jersey for some random dude who by the way now could wear No. 11 and transfer after a year.”

Leinart knows that fellow USC Heisman-winning quarterback Carson Palmer allowed his No. 3 jersey to be worn by Jordan Addison, but Leinart said he wouldn’t do that. Leinart did say he’d make an exception if his son Cole Leinart, a freshman quarterback at SMU, or one of his two younger sons wanted to wear No. 11 at USC. But that’s it.

“The only person that will ever wear my USC No. 11 would be Cole, who’s not there right now. He’s at SMU. Or two of my boys if they end up going to USC and playing football. That is it,” Leinart said.

Asked what he’d say if a USC player with a big NIL deal offered money for the No. 11 jersey, Leinart said it’s not about money.

“Absolutely not. Would never do it,” Leinart said. “It’s not for sale.”

The Cardinals announced the signings of linebacker Jack Gibbens, safety Andrew Wingard and defensive lineman Andrew Billings on Monday.

Gibbens signed a two-year deal, and Billings and Wingard signed one-year contracts.

Gibbens, 27, is heading into his fifth season after three years in Tennessee and one in New England. He was with Cardinals General Manager Monti Ossenfort with the Titans.

He started eight games for the Patriots last season, appearing in the other nine games, and he totaled 81 tackles, eight tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble and four pass breakups.

The Cardinals have Mack Wilson Sr. and Cody Simon at the position, but the release of Akeem Davis-Gaither created a need for depth.

Billings, 31, is entering his ninth season, having spent the past three seasons in Chicago. In 2025, he started 14 of 17 games played and totaled 31 tackles and a sack.

Cincinnati made him a fourth-round pick in 2016, and he has also played for the Browns and Raiders.

Wingard’s arrival in Arizona was reported last week.