The Arizona Cardinals are another step closer to the regular season after locking in their initial 53-man roster.
Now, there’s a good chance it doesn’t look the same in the coming days with potential outside additions and other roster gymnastics likely, but for now, it’s all we got.
A look at the takeaways and surprises on Arizona’s first iteration of the 53-man roster in 2025:
Cardinals 53-man roster takeaways, surprises
So long, Simi?!
Despite being one of Cardinals’ biggest preseason standouts after dealing with a quadricep injury in training camp, Simi Fehoko was one of the early cuts on Tuesday.
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He marks one of the biggest surprise cuts of the day.
While he was unable to play in the first preseason game due to the injury, he bounced back in a big way with a touchdown in each of the past two games.
He provided some juice on special teams, too, adding two tackles (one coming on the next play post-TD catch) in the preseason finale against Las Vegas.
“He’s been awesome,” Gannon said postgame. “He can play all three spots. He makes plays in practice, catches the ball and he can play on fourth down. He had a hell of a camp and a preseason.”
Fehoko is definitely a candidate to return to the practice squad, though he will likely garner interest elsewhere.
An answer to the Walter Nolen III question (for now)
However it shook out, Cardinals rookie Walter Nolen III was going to find his way on this list due to the unknown surrounding his return to play timeline from a calf injury suffered in the offseason.
After missing out on the entirety of training camp and the preseason, there is finally an answer to Nolen’s status to start the season:
He’s starting the season on the reserve/PUP list.
Nolen starting on the PUP list seemed more and more likely with every week on the shelf.
After he wasn’t activated off the list last week, it felt inevitable.
Much like Darius Robinson and his own calf injury last year, Nolen must now miss at least four games before even thinking about returning to action. And that’s best-case scenario.
It’s a tough look for the first-rounder. It’s also not the end of the world.
Sure, watching another first-rounder start the season on the shelf is rough, but the Cardinals are in a far better place roster-wise along the defensive line than they have been since head coach Jonathan Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort got to town.
They added veterans Calais Campbell and Dalvin Tomlinson to a starting lineup that includes Robinson.
Veterans Dante Stills and L.J. Collier round out a strong rotation within the trenches.
A shakeup in the Cardinals RBs room
We’ve got another big surprise with the addition of Zonovan “Bam” Knight to the roster.
While it appeared to be a two-horse race to round out the running backs room between special teamer DeeJay Dallas and Michael Carter, it was Knight who landed the final spot.
Explosives pay the bills in the Cardinals’ offense, and Knight clearly showed off his abilities in that department last week behind a 67-yard TD run.
As for Dallas, he heads for free agency after a preseason where his ball security came into question early behind a pair of fumbles.
Emari Demercado and Xavier Weaver serving as potential return options could have helped in Arizona’s decision to part ways with Dallas.
Carter, on the other hand, put together a strong preseason but still looked like the odd man out come 53-man roster cuts.
The fact that he was beat out by Knight, though, is pretty surprising. Carter had his own chunk play in last week’s win but doesn’t play special teams.
There’s still a chance one or both return to the practice squad. But for now, Knight gets his flowers.
Justin Jones finds his way on the 53-man roster
Aside from the Nolen question, what the team was going to do with veteran Justin Jones was another big defensive line question ahead of roster cuts.
Unable to stay healthy for the majority of his Cardinals tenure, did he really warrant a roster spot?
As of Tuesday, the answer is yes.
Financials likely played a factor here, with Jones carrying a dead money hit of $11.25 million if released after June 1.
And depending on the extent of his knee injury picked up during training camp, there’s always the option of placing him on injured reserve similar to what the team did with cornerback Elijah Jones last year.
More Cardinals roster gymnastics
It wouldn’t be a Cardinals initial 53-man roster without some roster gymnastics.
Just like last year, long snapper Aaron Brewer was nowhere to be found on Tuesday’s roster.
Don’t fret, he’ll be back soon enough. All part of the roster manipulation from Ossenfort.
If someone heads to IR in the coming days — keep an eye on Jones — look for Brewer to return to his rightful place on the roster.
He’s not going anywhere.
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