5 best free-agent signings in Arizona Cardinals history
By Sion Fawkes
A.Q. Shipley – C (2015)
A few names on this list are absolute eye-openers and A.Q. Shipley, a center, often doesn’t get recognized as often as he otherwise deserves. An undersized center drafted in the seventh round, players like Shipley aren’t supposed to sustain NFL careers. They’re camp fodder and nothing more.
And early in his career, he was just that, bouncing from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia to Indianapolis to Baltimore and back to Indianapolis from 2009 to 2012. He never made the active roster until the 2012 season and never found a home until he signed with the Cardinals.
And it was one of the best moves the team made, with the journeyman center commanding the offensive line from 2016 until 2019 after he spent 2015 playing as primarily a backup. Shipley started all 16 games just three times in his NFL career, all with the Cardinals.