Cardinals predicted to sign former Defensive Player of the Year

Looking to upgrade their secondary this offseason, Pro Football Focus has projected the Arizona Cardinals will sign cornerback Stephon Gilmore this year.

For 10 years, the Arizona Cardinals had a No. 1 cornerback in Patrick Peterson. Last year, the Cardinals and Peterson ended their relationship, and the team decided to sign Malcolm Butler in free agency as his replacement.

Unfortunately, Arizona was never able to find out if Butler could be one of their top corners as he made a surprising choice to retire before the start of the 2021 season.

With the 2022 free agency period less than a month away, will the Cardinals look to see if they can add a veteran defensive back to their roster who could potentially be their No. 1 cornerback next season?

All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore predicted to sign with the Arizona Cardinals

With this year’s free agency period quickly approaching, predictions are flowing in about where some of the top available players might land.

Recently, Pro Football Focus shared some of their thoughts about the 2022 pool of free agents and where they might end up. PFF has attempted to predict the destinations for this year’s top players in free agency and a couple of them are projected to sign with Arizona.

First, PFF has predicted that former Carolina Panthers cornerback Stephon Gilmore will sign a two-year contract with the Cardinals worth $28 million.

During the last six seasons, the 31-year-old Gilmore has earned five trips to the Pro Bowl and two First-Team All-Pro selections in addition to being named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2019.

PFF also predicted that Arizona will sign former Dallas Cowboys offensive guard Connor Williams to a three-year deal worth $20 million. With the Cowboys last season, PFF ranked the 24-year-old Williams as the 11th-best guard in the NFL.

Of course, if the Cardinals are going to sign either of these free agents, they will need to clear some cap space first as they are currently projected to be almost $1 million over the salary cap when the new league year begins in March.