
UDFA named Arizona Cardinals' best candidate for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year
Pro Football picked a player as the best possibility to be Offensive Rookie of the Year. This player was the only option
The Arizona Cardinals only selected one offensive player in the 2025 NFL draft. That was guard Hayden Conner in the sixth round. As such, the Cardinals have no shot at a rookie winning Offensive Rookie of the Year.
But Pro Football Network, putting together a list of the best candidate from every NFL team to win Offensive Rookie of the Year, had to pick someone. As such, the player they named was the best option they could come up for Arizona.
That player is undrafted rookie receiver Bryson Green.
It's improbable to think that the Arizona Cardinals will produce the Offensive Rookie of the Year. Jonathan Gannon's side didn't draft a single skill-position player in the 2025 NFL Draft and only picked up one receiver and one tight end as undrafted free agents.
Bryson Green was the lone wideout picked up and has the potential to be a big-bodied receiver who can add to the Cardinals' WR rotation. The 6'1', 207-pound pass catcher had 97 career receptions for 1,422 yards in his four years for the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Wisconsin Badgers, and fits the mold that Arizona has leaned towards in recent seasons.
Putting together a list like this, PFN had to pick someone. Bryson is the best option, as the only other offensive skill player they signed as a rookie free agent was tight end Oscar Cardenas.
Green has guaranteed salary to equal 18 weeks of the practice squad, so the Cardinals bank on him being with the team in 2025, but there is almost no shot he makes the active roster with Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch and Zay Jones filling four of the five or six receiver spots they will carry on the 53-man roster. On top of that, they have Xavier Weaver, who was on their active roster last year as a rookie free agent and 2024 sixth-round pick Tejhaun Palmer. They also signed Quez Watkins and Simi Fehoko this offseason, who have better chances to make the team than Green does.
But is Green the best candidate for the Cardinals? Well, yes. That is the case. It just means they have the smallest possible chance to have this year's Offensive Rookie of the year,
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Newsweek
10 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Cardinals Top Draft Choice Last Year Headed To MLB All-Star Futures Game
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The St. Louis Cardinals spent the seventh overall selection in last year's draft on West Virginia shortstop JJ Wetherholt, a player who was thought to be in contention for the first overall selection at the beginning of last year's collegiate season. Now he is headed to Atlanta for the MLB All-Star Futures Game. FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JULY 14: Major League Baseball commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. congratulates JJ Wetherholt, selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round of the the 2024 MLB Draft at Cowtown... FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JULY 14: Major League Baseball commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. congratulates JJ Wetherholt, selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round of the the 2024 MLB Draft at Cowtown Coliseum on July 14, 2024 in Fort Worth, Texas. More Photo byWetherholt has spent this season with Double-A Springfield and, entering Monday, has a slash line of .305/.430/.453. Wetherholt has torn up the Texas League this year and has earned the opportunity to showcase his talent in front of a national audience during All-Star Weekend. Wetherholt is the Cardinals' No. 1 prospect according to MLB Pipeline and has an ETA of next season, but with the current logjam in the middle infield for the Cardinals, his arrival could be delayed. This is also the ninth straight season that the Double-A affiliate of the Cardinals will be sending a player to the Futures Game. Two of the other 11 selections remain in the Cardinals' top-30 prospects, and one of the selections, Masyn Winn, is putting together a case to win the Gold Glove at shortstop in the National League. Winn broke onto the scene during his Futures Game with his rocket right arm firing 100 mph across the diamond from shortstop. Wetherholt has the same chance to make a statement and let the rest of the league know he is coming. Wetherholt's future position with the Cardinals is up in the air with Winn solidifying his job as the big league shortstop, but the Cardinals' top prospect is making waves and is on his way to the majors. More MLB: Red Sox Manager Alex Cora Gives Encouraging Update On Slugging Outfielder


Boston Globe
17 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Jalen Ramsey's divorce from Dolphins official, as All-Pro, Jonnu Smith dealt to Steelers for Minkah Fitzpatrick
A person familiar with the trade confirmed that the Dolphins will get Fitzpatrick, who returns to the team that drafted him 11th overall in 2018. He had been displeased with his role in Miami and requested a trade before being sent to the Steelers in 2019. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the teams have not made an official announcement. The terms have been agreed upon and are pending physicals. Advertisement The trade involving Ramsey and Fitzpatrick, both three-time All-Pros, marks the third time since at least 2002 that players who had previously been All-Pros were traded for each other, according to Sportradar. The others were star receiver DeAndre Hopkins (three All-Pros) for running back David Johnson in 2020, and tight end Jimmy Graham for center Max Unger in 2015. Related : Smith had Advertisement Instead, he's re-joining Arthur Smith, currently the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh, whom he was with in Tennessee and Atlanta. Smith will get a one-year contract extension worth as much as $12 million for 2026, agent Drew Rosenhaus confirmed. It's the latest in a series of retooling moves the Steelers have made this offseason in hopes that 2025 won't end similarly as their past few seasons. Pittsburgh has reached the playoffs four times in the last five seasons, only to be quickly eliminated in lopsided fashion each time. Since March, the Steelers have acquired two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver DK Metcalf from Seattle, signed four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, and now they've added two more experienced veterans in Ramsey and Smith. Minkah Fitzpatrick was a first-round pick of the Dolphins whose breakout in Pittsburgh came after he was traded there in 2019. Doug Benc/Associated Press Trading Fitzpatrick, who emerged as one of the NFL's premier safeties in his six seasons in Pittsburgh, likely could free up money for the Steelers to re-sign star linebacker TJ Watt, who is in the last year of his deal and skipped the offseason program as he seeks a new contract. For the Dolphins, losing Smith is a huge blow to their offense, which heavily relied on the tight end in the passing game as teams limited big plays from receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Smith's 88 receptions and 884 receiving yards last season were the most by a tight end in franchise history. Advertisement The Dolphins did address a need at safety after starter Jevon Holland signed with the New York Giants in March, but they still will likely be on the hunt for a replacement for Ramsey to add a veteran to their mostly young cornerback group. Will Graves in Pittsburgh and Josh Dubow in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Miami Herald
26 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Kelly: Dolphins blockbuster trade proves 2025 season still matters
If we needed proof of how, and more importantly why, Chris Grier and Mike McDaniel are still employed by the Miami Dolphins, it came on Monday morning, days - if not hours - before most of the NFL executives and coach go on vacation, focusing on their families and not football for two weeks. Somehow, the Dolphins' general manager and head coach found a way to turn two difficult situations into a playmaking safety, whose return gives Grier a chance to right one of his former wrongs. Miami traded two of the team's top players - cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith - to a Pittsburgh Steelers team that's clearly taken an all-in approach to the 2025 season. And in exchange for the pair of Pro Bowl talents, Miami got back Minkah Fitzpatrick, a 28-year-old elite safety, and a 2027 swap of a seventh-round pick for a fifth-round pick. Coincidentally, six years ago Grier was forced to trade Fitzpatrick to the Steelers because of a feud the safety was having with then head coach Brian Flores. Two games into the 2018 first-round pick's second NFL season, Fitzpatrick wanted no part of the tanking Dolphins. He was unhappy with how he was being used by Flores, and demanded a trade through his agent. This was the same safety Miami targeted in the 2018 draft, the one that featured a heated debate on what to do with the 11th overall pick that had to leave the draft room before Grier stepped in and put his foot down. The Dolphins were taking Fitzpatrick, Grier told owner Steve Ross, then head coach Adam Gase and team czar Mike Tannenbaum. It was Grier's biggest showing of power and conviction the organization had ever seen. He was dictating what was going to happen in the draft, which was the one thing he was in charge of at that time, and everyone else had to fall in line. Minkah was Grier's pick! Then Miami begrudgingly moved Fitzpatrick to Pittsburgh for the 18th pick in the 2019 draft because he got fed up with Miami, and the Dolphins. Now it seems Grier has a chance to right a former wrong, and got back his guy. But the price was steep. Miami will take a $18.5 million cap hit over the next two years for unloading Ramsey, who sources say wasn't on speaking terms with McDaniel. The Dolphins got tired of walking on eggshells around the seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback, and had been working to move him for nearly two months. Some in the NFL felt Miami was going to have to keep Ramsey because of how complicated his contract, and personality is. Now that's Pittsburgh's problem. And so is Smith's demands that the former Florida International standout cash in on the record-setting season he delivered in 2024, setting franchise record for receptions, yards produced, and touchdowns scored by a Dolphins tight end. 'That's my guy,' Tua Tagovailoa said when asked about Smith, who became one of his favorite targets in 2024. Tagovailoa clearly didn't want him traded, but more than anyone else on the team, Tagovailoa's aware the NFL's a business, and the Steelers reportedly tripled what Smith was supposed to be paid by Miami, raising Smith's salary to $12 million for season. Fortunately for Tagovailoa, the Dolphins acquired one of his old guys in Fitzpatrick, whom he was close to during their time together at the University of Alabama. Not only should the Dolphins benefit from Fitzpatrick's play, but he'd developed into a leader with the Steelers, one of the organizations that has the best culture in football. Now Fitzpatrick can partner with Tagovailoa, and other veterans, helping the Dolphins change the troublesome culture he once ran from. That's been McDaniel and his staff's biggest challenge all offseason. If the Dolphins had unloaded Ramsey and Smith for just future draft picks it would have sent the locker room a horrible message, one that likely stressed today - the 2025 season - doesn't matter. Not like it matters to the Steelers. But the acquisition of Fitzpatrick, a respected playmaker who has pulled down 20 interceptions, forced and recovered 10 fumbles in his seven seasons, proves that nobody's waving the white flag, giving up on 2025. After all, Grier and McDaniel are still fighting for their jobs, and Monday's trade proves they've seemingly got each other's back, which is a great start, and a welcomed change to how the Dolphins have usually done business in these critical seasons.