Report: Cardinals Calling Teams Ahead of Trade Deadline

The Arizona Cardinals are looking to get active ahead of the league's trade deadline.

Arizona Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort during an NFL pre-draft press conference at the Cardinals Dignity Health Training Center in Tempe on April 18, 2024. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals have less than a week to make a deal happen ahead of the league's Nov. 5 trade deadline next Tuesday.

According to The Athletic, they're indeed making phone calls.

The Cardinals, currently at 4-4 through eight weeks of football season, have seen their front seven decimated with injuries since training camp.

In an already thin group of edge rushers, outside linebacker BJ Ojulari suffered a season-ending knee injury during camp, and the defense's collective health has only gotten worse. Fellow outside linebacker Dennis Gardeck is now done for the season with a torn ACL while starting defensive linemen Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols are on injured reserve as well.

First-round pick Darius Robinson has yet to play a down since beginning the season on injured reserve with a calf injury, though he was recently activated to the 53-man roster.

Needless to say, Arizona's sack production of 15 on the year could use some improvement.

When evaluating teams looking to add an edge rusher, Mike Jones offered the following:

"A high-level pass rusher can turn a good defense into a great defense, and teams with championship aspirations could look to make a move at the deadline to increase their chances of achieving their goals this postseason. NFC front-runner Detroit needs pass-rushing help with Aidan Hutchinson lost to injury for the season. Atlanta, which leads the NFC South, also needs help at edge rusher. Arizona, which remains in the thick of things in the NFC West, also has been calling teams in search of pass-rushing help."

We've already seen names such as Josh Uche moved to Kansas City ahead of the deadline while Haason Reddick is now off the market in New York. Stars in the likes of Myles Garrett and Maxx Crosby would take a lot of convincing - and draft capital - to sway from their respective teams.

Azeez Ojulari - brother of BJ - has been a popular name in talks, and likely would come cheap.

We'll see if the Cardinals can wheel-and-deal anything while sitting atop the NFC West as the trade deadline nears.