Arizona Cardinals sign safety after successful tryout

The Arizona Cardinals are signing small-school standout safety Tyler Sigler.

Per NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, the Arizona Cardinals are giving Tyler Sigler, a Division III safety, a chance to make the team after he impressed in a rookie mini-camp tryout. Rapoport noted that the signing is would be a cool story if he can catch one with the team.

Sigler is a 6-foot-3, 213-pound safety that boasts a combination of speed and power. For the Cardinals, he would likely see time in a sub package as a roaming safety or linebacker; aka a “money-backer,” the position Deone Bucannon played while in Arizona.

During his time with the Wheaton Thunder, Sigler was a tackling machine and tallied 141 total tackles to go along with eight tackles for loss in his 47 games played. To combine his tackling ability, Sigler had a knack for finding the ball as the patrolling defensive back snagged eight interceptions, and took two to the house for a score, he also had 19 pass deflections.

In the tape that I’ve watched, he looks to be extremely quick and has the field awareness to jump shallow and deep routes alike. When he does give up yardage, he makes the tackle with physicality and always attempting to strip the ball, with a similar technique to a Peanut Tilman with his ball-punching (two forced fumbles.) Though, I’d like to see him be a little more conservative and not always stick to aggressive, hit-or-miss angles.

When the safety plays in the pre-season, the Cardinals might try out his returning abilities. He averaged 26.5 yards per kick return along with 10.7 yards per punt return. In a total of 34 returns (11 kickoffs, 23 punts), he’s shown the field awareness and speed to get to the second wave.

Sigler isn’t an athletic marvel; 4.64 second 40-yard-dash, 121-inch broad jump, 39-inch vertical, 6.96-second three-cone-drill. But he’s not a bad one. He’s an aggressive player with good form to make sure tackles. His effort and relentless play could earn him a spot as a gunner on special teams too.

He did have one season ending injury in 2017, but it shouldn’t scare anyone at least for the moment. The concern with Sigler is the level of competition, as he hasn’t seen elite level receivers or quarterbacks. But nobody expects him to be a starter in the first few years. If he does make the roster, the Cardinals could be assured that have a high-level player with a floor of special teams and a ceiling of a true NFL “money-backer.”