Arizona Cardinals release D.J. Humphries in an expected move, sign Jonah Williams

The Arizona Cardinals have been quiet thus far within the free agency frenzy, mainly re-signing their own players. While they have made defensive free agent signings, they are back in business but on the tough end. According to Tom Pelissero, Arizona has released left tackle D.J. Humphries who was drafted by the Cardinals in the first round of the 2015 draft.

This move makes a lot of sense financially, but it i still a tough part of the business within the NFL. Humphries tore his ACL late in the season last year and was set to miss a majority of the season if not all. With this move, the Cardinals will now only take one true big contract with Kyler Murray.

Humphries grew as a player and leader within the organization and was a Pro Bowl player with the Cardinals in 2021. Arizona was already in need of a left tackle to replace Humphries but they will save a great amount of money on the cap. The Cardinals will now need to address this area of need before the NFL draft.

Per John Gambadoro from Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix, it will be a post June 1st cut for the Cardinals which will free up $15.9 million per overthecap.com. The Cardinals are now positioning themselves for the future to bring in help for the long run.

What should the Cardinals do now?

Unless Monti Ossenfort decides to make a big shock and draft a left tackle like Joe Alt or Olumuyiwa Fashanu at No.4, he will need to go after a free agent left tackle. There are no rumors of the Cardinals being linked to top players like David Bakhtiari or Tyron Smith as of now. However, Ossenfort will need to pay up in order to provide protection for Kyler Murray if they want any chance to succeed on offense in 2024.

UPDATE: Per Ian Rapoport, the Cardinals have went and signed offensive tackle Jonah Williams. Adam Schefter later reported that Williams is signing a two-year, $30 million deal where Williams will get $19 million guarenteed.