Report: Arizona Cardinals retain Rodney Gunter

The Arizona Cardinals are bringing back one of their own.

Per Darren Urban of ArizonaCardinals.com, the Arizona Cardinals are bringing back free agent defensive lineman Rodney Gunter on a one year deal. The 2015 fourth-round selection visited the Green Bay Packers last week but didn’t get a deal done.

The deal comes as an obvious one as the Cardinals needed to continue to bolster their defensive line and Gunter was a bright spot of that same unit in 2018.

While the Cardinals have added Darius Philon to go alongside Corey Peters and Robert Nkemdiche and may add talent to the group in the draft, the lack of depth on the defensive line is serious. That lack of depth is even more apparent when you consider that both Peters and Nkemdiche become free-agents next spring and Philon hasn’t played in a full-time starting role once in his four-year career.

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But resigning of Gunter helps that unit. He uses his 6-5, 305-pound frame to be a sound run-stopper in the interior defensive line but has also shown improvement in other areas of his game. In 2018, he showed progress as a pass-rusher out of the 1-technique defensive tackle in the 4-3. He finished the season with 4.5 sacks, which is more than he had in his first three NFL season.

Although Gunter may have overachieved in the 4-3 the Cardinals should give him another chance. In a worst-case scenario, he would provide the team with solid depth and size at the position. In a best-case scenario, he would provide them with a developing game that could theoretically start on a rebuilt defense.