When Arizona kicks off its 2025 NFL schedule against the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 7, former Alabama linebacker Mack Wilson will be calling the defensive signals for the Cardinals.
Wearing the green dot for the Arizona defense comes after Wilson started a career-high 16 games for the Cardinals in 2024. He had started 14 games as a fifth-round rookie in 2019. But in the intervening four seasons, Wilson had 18 starts.
“Just to look back where I come from,” Wilson said during an appearance on NFL Network on Thursday, “being drafted in Cleveland, playing three years there, then getting traded to New England, playing two years there, then earning me a contract here with Arizona, it’s just been a blessing, honestly, and just shows the faith and the dedication I have to stick through it through all those times. I feel like it wasn’t always great. It wasn’t always bad neither. I just had to be where my feet was at at the same time and just work for where I’m at now, I feel like.
“Everything has been paying off for me, and I just got to continue to keep that same mindset as a guy from three years ago who didn’t have much, didn’t know where his future was headed, didn’t know if I was going to get any plays. I feel like me having that mindset allowed me kind of just to stay grounded and just keep working.”
As a rookie, Wilson entered the Cleveland Browns’ starting lineup when veteran Christian Kirksey got hurt in the second game. Wilson went on to finish second on the Browns with 82 tackles and play 943 defensive snaps that season.
Those remain the best numbers of Wilson’s career. He had his second-best in 2024, when he recorded 75 tackles during 763 defensive snaps as the weakside linebacker for the Cardinals.
In the four seasons in between, Wilson played 1,107 defensive snaps. Cleveland traded Wilson to the New England Patriots after three seasons. In two seasons with the Patriots, Wilson was on the field for 596 special-teams plays.
Wilson joined Arizona as a free agent last offseason for a three-year, $12.75 million contract.
A two-time All-State selection at Carver High School in Montgomery, Wilson is taking the duties of middle linebacker Kyzir White. White made 137 tackles as the defensive signal-caller of the Cardinals in 2024, but Arizona did not re-sign him as the linebacker entered free agency.
“Just been taking it one day at a time with everything that comes with being the green dot in any defense,” Wilson said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity. I feel like I’m more than ready, and I feel like the guys really do a good job of making me comfortable out there when I am calling the defense, which allows me to play fast and allows me to be who I am, so it’s been fun, man. It’s been a challenge for me a little bit, but I’m always open for any challenge, I feel like, and what better person to be calling the defense, I feel like, than myself.”
Before getting to New Orleans, the Cardinals close their preseason schedule against the Las Vegas Raiders at 9 p.m. CDT Saturday at State Farm Stadium in Gardendale, Arizona. NFL Network will televise the final game on the league’s 2025 preseason schedule.
“I’m sure everybody wants to see the resilience,” Wilson said. “We got beat pretty bad last week, so I feel like guys’ hair is on fire this week. Guys’re working hard. And, you know, you just want to see guys go out there and compete. You don’t know where things’re going to stand next week, you know, how the shape of the roster may look, so you want to go out there and leave a great last impression. That’s something that I always been telling rookies over the years and just even guys who may feel like they’re on the bubble, even myself, you just want to go to work, put that work in each and every day and just show the guys your worth.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.
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