Arizona Cardinals re-sign defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard

The Arizona Cardinals have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with the former third-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears

Seven days have passed since the NFL’s free agency period began, and the Arizona Cardinals have made something perfectly clear. The club’s front office is refusing to stand pat after witnessing a brutal performance by the defense in 2019. Several reinforcements have been added over the past week to address the issue, and the repairs to the unit continued on Monday.

Jonathan Bullard, who joined the franchise in September of ’19, will be back with the Cards this fall. It’s being reported that the defensive lineman and the team’s management have agreed to terms on a one-year contract. Bullard turned in a solid performance for the Cardinals last season, and the organization obviously felt that he was worth bringing back in 2020.

Bullard is the second addition that Arizona has made to it’s defensive line since the league year got underway on March 16th. Last Tuesday, general manager Steve Keim signed former Buffalo Bill Jordan Phillips to a three-year, $30 million deal. It’s presumed that Corey Peters and Phillips have two of the starting jobs locked up, with Bullard and Zach Allen expected to compete for the third spot in the 3-4 alignment.

The 26-year old Bullard was a third-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears back in 2016. He was released by the franchise during final cuts last August, after spending three years in the “Windy City”. In 46 appearances (five starts) with Chicago, Bullard totaled 62 tackles, two sacks and four passes defensed.

A day after being cut by the Bears, Bullard was claimed off of the waiver wire by the Cards. In nine games (six starts) with his new squad, the 6’3, 296 pounder tallied 22 tackles,1.5 sacks and seven quarterback hits. Bullard was forced to sit out the final four contests of ’19 after tearing a hamstring during a week 13 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams.