While Pro Football Network named Justin Jones as a tarde candidate, two other D-linemen make sense as trade or cut candidates.

The Arizona Cardinals have a loaded defensive line room after their work in free agency and the 2025 NFL draft. They signed Dalvin Tomlinson and Calais Campbell. They re-signed L.J. Collier. They drafted Walter Nolen in the first round. And that comes a year after signing Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols in free agency and drafting Darius Robinson in the first round.

They won’t be able to keep everyone, leading to potential trades or cuts.

Pro Football Network named a trade or cut candidate for every team. For the Cardinals, that player is their biggest acquisition in free agency last offseason — Jones.

Trade Justin Jones?

The Arizona Cardinals leaned almost exclusively defense in their draft class. Six of the Cardinals’ seven picks came on that side of the ball, including each of their first five picks. That run began with defensive tackle Walter Nolen, an extremely athletic pass rusher who could thrive as the team’s new 3-technique.

One veteran who could be on his way out because of Nolen’s arrival is Justin Jones. The former Los Angeles Chargers and Chicago Bears defensive tackle signed a three-year, $31.2 million contract with the Cardinals last offseason as one of their free agent centerpieces that year. However, after playing every game from 2022-23, Jones missed the final 14 games of 2024 with a torn triceps. He failed to record a tackle in the three games he did play in.

Still only 29, Jones likely has some value as a pass-rushing DT. But between Nolen and free-agent signings Calais Campbell and Dalvin Tomlinson, Arizona has stocked up on the defensive interior and might not have room for Jones anymore. The Cardinals can save $8.1 million in cap space this year if they trade Jones after June 1, taking a $3.25 million dead cap hit each of the next two years.

In theory, this makes sense. However, we must remember a couple of things. One is that the Cardinals are not unhappy with Jones. His issue last season was that he got hurt after not missing a game the previous two years.

The other issue is his contract. He makes a fully guaranteed $7 million salary in 2025. Unless a team is desperate, he won’t be a sought-after player with that salary, those guarantees and coming off an injury.

And with a fully guaranteed salary, he isn’t going to be cut.

The fact of the matter is that he still is exactly the player they want in the locker room. He is steady. He does things the right way, and he showed in 2023 that he has some pass-rushing juice.

So who is the most likely cut or trade candidate on the defensive line?

Better trade/cut candidates

If we are talking trade, one player makes sense — Dante Stills.

The Cardinals have young talent with Robinson and Nolen. He is young and he has been productive, having logged eight sacks in two seasons.

He is also cheap. He has two years remaining on his contract and makes the league minimum as a former sixth-round pick.

Any team looking for defensive line help would find him valuable.

A cut candidate is L.J. Collier. He signed a one-year, $3 million deal to return for a third season with Arizona. He has $750,000 of his $1.945 million salary guaranteed. While he, along with Stills, was the Cardinals’ most consistent defensive lineman last season, he is now at the back of the rotation.

He could be traded, but if he were cut, it wouldn’t be too bad. The Cardinals would still owe him the $750,000 but would save $1.5 million against the salary cap.

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