Josh Sweat
Josh Sweat
Josh Sweat is a good player on a bad team, which means he will be the subject of trade rumors for the next few months. A former fourth-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, the Florida State product originally entered the league with the Philadelphia Eagles and spent his early years in a reserve role. However, he finally established himself as a starter in 2021 and turned himself into one of the league’s better edge defenders. A one-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion, Sweat has recorded at least 6.5 sacks in each of the past five seasons and is coming off arguably the best year of his career.
Starting and appearing in 17 games for a bad Arizona Cardinals team, Josh Sweat finished the season with 12 sacks, 30 tackles, 13 tackles-for-loss, 17 quarterback hits, four forced fumbles, and a 74.2 PFF grade, the 31st-best mark out of 119 eligible players. While the Cardinals themselves had a disappointing season, Sweat had a strong campaign and was probably the team’s best defender.
Now entering his age-29 season, Josh Sweat is still a good player, but is likely closer to the end of his career than the beginning. Arizona won’t be ready to compete for at least another season or two, and Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton thinks there’s a decent chance the team trades him before the start of the regular season.
“NFL analysts expect the Cardinals to finish with one of the league’s worst records this year,” Moton writes. “Journeyman Jacoby Brissett is the starting quarterback, and promising rookie first-round running back Jeremiyah Love is dealing with a high-ankle sprain. In his age-28 season, Josh Sweat logged a career-high 12 sacks, but the Cardinals are unlikely to contend this season. If Ossenfort doesn’t trade him before Week 1, he’s just delaying the inevitable.”
Josh Sweat
| Source: Lastwordonsports.com - David Latham, Managing Editor
Cardinals Urged to Trade Josh Sweat Before Week 1
Will the Arizona Cardinals be a competitive team in 2026? Almost certainly not. However, trading Josh Sweat before Week 1 would effectively mean punting on the season, and no team is going to do that before a single game is played. The NFL is 18 weeks of pure chaos where every single team can beat another on any given Sunday. While the Cardinals don’t have high-end talent by any stretch of the imagination and their quarterback situation is terrible, they won’t just give up on the season before it truly begins.
Assuming everything goes as expected, the Arizona Cardinals will be sellers at the trade deadline. At this point, the Cardinals will likely entertain a Josh Sweat trade. However, until it’s clear they can’t make the playoffs in 2026, they’ll hold on to one of their best defensive players.