The 2026 league year is coming up very soon. It officially begins at 1 p.m. Arizona time on March 11, with the legal negotiating period beginning on March 9 at 9 a.m. Arizona time.<\/p>\n
The Arizona Cardinals<\/a> have several roster decisions to make before then.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Leading up to the new league year, we will profile every player on the roster, go over what they did last season, what their contract status is and what they face in 2026.<\/p>\n Next up is cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting.<\/p>\n Sean Murphy-Bunting 2025 season<\/p>\n Murphy-Bunting\u2019s season ended before the draft in April when he suffered a knee injury that landed him on reserve\/non-football injury (NFI) where he spent the entire year. To this date, there has been no information on how the injury happened. While rehabbing, he remained around the team and was on the sideline during games.<\/p>\n Sean Murphy-Bunting contract status<\/p>\n Murphy-Bunting signed a three-year, $25.5 million contract as an unrestricted free agent in 2024 that included a $6 million signing bonus. He could have been released after the injury occurred, or the Cardinals could have elected not to pay him while on NFI, but that wasn\u2019t the case. Scheduled to be paid $10 million in 2025, the contract was restructured and the salary lowered to $1.17 million. However, the original $7.195 million salary for 2026 remains currently on the books.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Sean Murphy-Bunting offseason outlook<\/p>\n While it is widely presumed the team will part ways with him, Murphy-Bunting has been a mentor for the team\u2019s younger cornerbacks, many of whom were hit with injuries last season. And the team kept him around for after the injury. Including $2 million of proration remaining from his signing bonus, the current cap charge is $9.245 million. That would be steep, especially for someone recovering from a serious knee injury, but it should not be a shock if another restructure occurs that lowers the base salary while adding significant bonuses for games played and being on the opening-day roster. None of those would count against this year\u2019s cap because he didn\u2019t play any games in 2025.<\/p>\n Get more Cardinals<\/a> and NFL coverage from Cards<\/a> Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Apple podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n