Following the 2025 NFL draft, the talk around the NFL has been about teams and the fifth-year options of contracts for former first-round draft picks. The deadline was Thursday. The Arizona Cardinals have been notably absent in this news.
Do you remember why?
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It is the 2022 first-round draft picks for whom teams must decide whether or not to exercise their fifth-year option.
The Cardinals did not make a first-round pick in 2022. They traded it to the Baltimore Ravens for receiver Hollywood Brown and a third-round pick. So the Cardinals have no decision to make because they have no player entering his fourth year as a first-year draft pick.
The player the Ravens got with the pick the Cardinals traded them is center Tyler Linderbaum. The Ravens did not exercise his fifth-year option, but that would have cost the Ravens $23.4 million in 2026 because rookie contract designations have all offensive linemen lumped into one group. Centers are generally the lowest-paid lineman of the position group.
Next year, it will come time to decide on tackle Paris Johnson, but that is a year away.
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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: No fifth-year option for Arizona Cardinals