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The Arizona Cardinals have traded safety Rudy Ford today, sending him to the Philadelphia Eagles. The deal itself involves just two players, as the Cardinals received Philadelphia defensive tackle Bruce Hector in the deal.
DT Bruce Hector is headed to the #AZCardinals. A rare player-for-player trade. https://t.co/JTKd9vPSkw
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 22, 2019
Ford was drafted by the Cardinals in the sixth round (208th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft out of Auburn. He played in just 10 games during his rookie season, mainly as a special teams player, before suffering a knee injury and being placed on injured reserve late in the year. In 2018, Ford tallied just seven total tackles and didn’t factor too much into the Cardinals secondary.
Hector signed with the Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2018 and was similarly seldom used. Hector only played in eight games for the Eagles last year, tallying two tackles and 0.5 sacks during his time on the team. Throughout his time on the team, he was moved back and forth from the practice squad and looked to slot in with a Cardinals team looking for more potential playmakers on defense.
For both teams, this likely comes as a result of trying to see if players will work better in a different environment. While Ford and Hector might not fit into the starting plans for either team as of now, it's possible that both teams saw something in either player and want to bring them in to see if they can develop into a role player for them. With two weeks left in the NFL preseason, Hector and Ford will at least get some chance to show why they deserve to stick around.
