{"id":178034,"date":"2025-07-03T10:58:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T10:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/178034\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T10:58:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T10:58:16","slug":"cardinals-to-meet-with-james-pearce-jalon-walker-mykel-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/178034\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinals To Meet With James Pearce, Jalon Walker, Mykel Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cardinals let Chandler Jones<\/a> walk in free agency during the 2022 offseason, and they lost all-time great J.J. Watt<\/a> and eventual All-Pro Zach Allen<\/a> in 2023. Arizona did not come especially close to picking up the pieces during the 2023 and \u201924 seasons, but the team\u2019s offseason has acknowledged the need for a better pass rush.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After re-signing trade pickup<\/a> Baron Browning<\/a>, the Cardinals reunited Jonathan Gannon with Josh Sweat<\/a>. PFR\u2019s No. 2-ranked free agent joined the team on a four-year, $76.4MM deal<\/a>. It does not appear the Cards are content with Browning, Zaven Collins<\/a> and BJ Ojulari<\/a> as Sweat\u2019s complementary pieces, as some high-profile \u201c30\u201d visits are on tap.<\/p>\n

Jalon Walker<\/a>, Mykel Williams<\/a> and James Pearce Jr.<\/a> are set to meet with the team, according to<\/a> NFL.com\u2019s Mike Garafolo<\/a>. Dennis Gardeck<\/a>\u2018s six-sack season in 2023 represents Arizona\u2019s highwater mark post-Watt, with converted ILB Collins leading the way with just five in 2024.<\/p>\n

The Cards extended Collins last year<\/a>, giving the former Steve Keim-era first-round pick a two-year, $14MM deal. Collins is signed through 2026, but nothing is guaranteed beyond this season. L.J. Collier<\/a> is also back, but the ex-Seahawks first-round EDGE is on a one-year, $3MM accord<\/a> that comes with $1.5MM guaranteed, KPRC2\u2019s Aaron Wilson tweets<\/a>. A $1MM incentive package is included in Collier\u2019s second Cards contract.<\/p>\n

With Sweat headlining this group, the Cardinals have the makings of a far more formidable pass rush \u2014 one that includes 2024 first-round D-lineman Darius Robinson<\/a> \u2014 compared to recent years, but their \u201c30\u201d visits indeed point to a strong interest in making another high-level investment to strengthen its pressure cadre. It would almost definitely take a first-round pick to land Walker, Williams or Pearce. The Cardinals hold the No. 16 overall pick.<\/p>\n

Walker sits fifth on Daniel Jeremiah\u2019s latest NFL.com big board, making it rather unlikely he falls to No. 16. While last year\u2019s draft seeing no defender go in the top 14 brought an early imbalance, an abundance of quarterback selections made that possible. No QB run is expected beyond Cam Ward<\/a> and Shedeur Sanders<\/a> this year, which will likely see this draft\u2019s top non-Abdul Carter<\/a> defenders go earlier.<\/p>\n

A backup during Georgia\u2019s 2022 national championship-winning season, Walker began to play a bigger role in the latter slate. Over the past two seasons, Walker combined for 11.5 sacks. Last season, he posted 11 tackles for loss en route to All-American acclaim. Walker has experience on and off the ball, which is rather familiar territory for a Cardinals team that drafted both Collins and Haason Reddick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Respectively sitting 22nd and 26th on Jeremiah\u2019s board, Williams and Pearce may well be available at No. 16. A Walker Georgia teammate, Williams played more than his slightly higher-regarded teammate as a freshman and closed his college career with 14 sacks in three seasons. Williams finished with nine TFLs and two forced fumbles in 2024. He earned second-team All-SEC honors last year but played through a sprained ankle during his final Bulldogs slate. Pearce was more productive than either, combining for 17.5 sacks from 2023-24; this included an SEC-leading 10 in \u201923. The Saints (No. 9 overall) have also come up as a potential Pearce suitor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Panthers, who boast a bigger EDGE need compared to the Cardinals, also met with Walker, ESPN.com\u2019s David Newton notes<\/a>. Carolina holds the No. 8 overall pick. The NFC South team also has seen Williams connections form<\/a>. Although the Panthers made an addition here, Patrick Jones<\/a> does not quite move the needle like Sweat does. The team is still searching for a Brian Burns<\/a> successor, whereas the Cards spent to hope Sweat can deliver Chandler Jones-like production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cardinals let Chandler Jones walk in free agency during the 2022 offseason, and they lost all-time great…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2078],"tags":[80,375,390,2604,1327,260,7,1486,1497,4751,1493,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-178034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-cardinals","8":"tag-2025-nfl-draft","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-arizona-cardinals","11":"tag-arizonacardinals","12":"tag-cardinals","13":"tag-carolina-panthers","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-jalon-walker","16":"tag-james-pearce","17":"tag-l-j-collier","18":"tag-mykel-williams","19":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114788952068538908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}