The Arizona Cardinals recently made a handful of moves as they look to finalize their 53-man roster by Sunday's deadline. Monday, it was announced that Josh Sweat was activated from the PUP, a notable development given the uncertainty surrounding his Week 1 chances, and even trade chances for that matter.
It now appears the Cardinals will start the season with Sweat, who is on track to play Week 1. Still, considering this defense recently surrendered 34 points in a blowout preseason loss to the Dallas Cowboys, there's plenty of work to do to address that side of the ball for Arizona.
Specifically, the Cardinals' linebacker unit remains a glaring issue. That unit ranked No. 30 overall in recent 2026 NFL linebacker rankings released by Gordon McGuinness of PFF.
Cardinals must upgrade their linebacker unit
The only two teams heading into the season with a worse-ranked linebacker unit than Arizona, according to McGuinness, are the Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts. Apparently former Cardinal Akeem Davis-Gaither isn't starting-worthy material in Indy after his poor 49.9 PFF grade last season.
But for Arizona, the concern wasn't who they brought in to fill the position; it's rather that they didn't do enough to address it after last season already showed all the flaws.
"Mack Wilson and Cody Simon return as starters for the Cardinals after a tough 2025 season. Wilson earned a 60.1 PFF grade, missing 16.4% of his tackles, while Simon missed 19.0% of his tackles and garnered a 56.1 PFF grade. It wouldn't be a huge shock to see Jack Gibbens, who missed just 8.6% of his tackles, move into a starting role before the end of the season," McGuinness writes.
The Cardinals have veterans in a secondary headlined by Budda Baker. They have youth and upside on what should be an improved defensive line if former first-rounders Darius Robinson and Walter Nolen III can stay healthy this year. But what about the middle of this defense?
The Mack Wilson-Cody Simon duo returns for a linebacker unit that was part of a defense that surrendered 28.7 points per game, ranking 29th ahead of only the Cowboys, Jets, and Bengals.
Arizona had an opportunity to address this roster flaw in the offseason. They could've even selected Ohio State's Arvell Reese instead of running back Jeremiyah Love at No. 3 overall in the draft. Instead, the Cardinals remain focused on the offensive side of the roster, ignoring more important and harder-to-replace positions at their expense.
This linebacker unit has already gotten exposed in the preseason. Cardinals fans should unfortunately expect more of the same defensive struggles from last season.
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