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The Arizona Cardinals have a chance to take a huge leap forward during the 2025 NFL season. Arizona may not have had a strong roster in 2024, but they were a competitive team. The Cardinals finished the season 8-9 but were firmly in the NFC West divisional race until the end of the season.
Now the Cardinals must transition into offseason mode and try to upgrade the roster. If they can add enough talented players, they could make a run at the NFC West division title in 2025.
Thankfully, Arizona has everything they need to make this vision come true. They already have a talented coaching staff, led by head coach Jonathan Gannon, and a franchise quarterback in Kyler Murray. They also boast young talent in Paris Johnson Jr. and Marvin Harrison Jr. Now the Cardinals just need to add the final pieces and flesh out their depth.
Arizona enters the offseason with roughly $76.5 million in cap space to spend. This gives them enough cash to compete for free agents in March, where they can add multiple starters.
The Cardinals also have six selections in the 2025 NFL Draft, including the 16th overall pick.
The Cardinals should also consider trades as another way of improving the roster. Arizona has plenty of cap space and draft capital, which gives them everything they need to add an established veteran.
But which player could Arizona realistically trade for?
Below we will explore one perfect trade that the Cardinals must complete during the 2025 NFL offseason.
The Cardinals need a veteran defensive tackle like Jonathan Allen
Let's break down the terms of this trade before getting into any specifics.
Cardinals receive:
- DT Jonathan Allen
- 2025 seventh-round pick
Commanders receive:
- 2026 second-round pick (conditional)
The Cardinals have multiple positions of need on the defensive side of the ball. Defensive tackle may be the biggest need of all.
Arizona enter the offseason with only Khyiris Tonga, PJ Mustipher, and Ben Stille under contract on the interior of the defensive line. The Cardinals made the best of bad situation in 2024, but the would be foolish not to add multiple starters at the position this offseason. That's where Jonathan Allen comes in.
Allen is unquestionably on the trade block. In fact, the Commanders gave Allen permission to seek a trade on Tuesday.
Allen is a dominant player when healthy, but he has struggled with injuries throughout his career. In 2024, Allen showed both good and bad signs in the injury department.
On one hand, Allen suffered a pectoral injury in October that was thought to be a season-ending injury. However, Allen battled back from that injury and ended up returning for Washington's surprise playoff run.
Allen is just past his prime at 30 years old. His best seasons came in 2021 and 2022. In each of those seasons, Allen logged 60+ total tackles and 7.5+ sacks per season. He is still a valuable player, especially to a talent-poor team like the Cardinals, but he is someone the Commanders can afford to part ways with.
Allen is on the final year of his contract and has a cap hit of $22.47 million in 2025. If the Commanders decided to trade Allen before June 1st, they could save $16.47 million in cap space.
Washington still has Daron Payne at defensive tackle, as well as former second-round pick Johnny Newton who could replace Allen in 2025.
As for the Cardinals, they need to be willing to spend big to add talent at defensive tackle. The idea of trading a second-round pick for an interior defender may sound crazy, but it could pay dividends right away.
I noted that the second-round pick is conditional, which may be a necessary part of getting this deal done. Arizona and Washington could come to some type of compromise on terms for this conditional pick. It may revolve around Allen's playing time or his actual production. The Cardinals would likely seek some insurance in case Allen suffers another major injury as well.
The Cardinals may not like dipping into their future draft picks to acquire Allen. However, I believe it is a shot worth taking to accelerate their rebuild ahead of an important 2025 campaign.
