3 Arizona Cardinals players on the 53-man roster who won’t last in the desert

Every year, players who head into Week 1 on the 53-man roster will be wearing a different uniform toward the end of the season. Sometimes, they are players we never thought our team would get rid of. Other times, the players a team releases across the 18-week season deserve to be gone. And you can count on the Arizona Cardinals to see some roster turbulence in 2023.

Below, you will meet three players who could find themselves playing in another city, if anywhere, at some point in 2023. One player listed below is still a good trade piece, as noted in a previous article. The other two could play integral roles with the Cards early, but they could also dramatically diminish later in the year. 

So which players might find their way out of the desert between September 2023 and January 2024? Keep reading for the three more prominent names on the roster. 

Arizona Cardinals players who won’t last in the desert

1 - Zach Ertz, TE

There are two players on this list who could be handed their walking papers at some point in 2023. But with Zach Ertz, other teams could be inquiring about him if Trey McBride and Elijah Higgins prove to be a sound young tight end duo. 

Ertz will turn 33 during the season, and it would be a win-win situation if general manager Monti Ossenfort can pull off a deal for even more draft picks. Even a fifth rounder would work here, as the best thing Ossenfort can do at the moment is to simply keep hoarding selections for 2024. 

Even if McBride and Higgins don’t become a one-two punch off the bat, if the latter shows he’s capable of taking on a larger role, that can also prompt the Cards to trade Ertz. Higgins may have been a waiver wire pickup, but something intrigued Arizona to sign him. And that implies he can be a good fit for the team’s long-term plans.