Linebacker J.J. Russell has found a new home.
The Cardinals announced Russell’s signing on Wednesday afternoon. Linebacker Milo Eifler was waived in a corresponding move.
Russell, who signed a one-year contract, spent the last three seasons in Tampa and appeared in 30 regular season games. He was a core special teamer for most of that time, but made four starts over the last two seasons and recorded 49 tackles, a sack, a fumble recovery, and two passes defensed overall.
Russell also started the team’s playoff loss to the Commanders last season and had three tackles in the game.
Eifler played two games for Arizona last season and also saw time for Washington and Atlanta in his first three seasons.
The Cardinals will do more than play a preseason game in Denver this summer.
They and the Broncos announced that the two teams will hold a joint practice before they play on Saturday, August 16. The practice session will take place two days before the game.
It’s the third time in three years with head coach Jonathan Gannon that the Cardinals have held joint practices. They worked with the Vikings in 2023 and the Colts last year.
The Cardinals will be home to face the Chiefs and Raiders in their other two preseason games. The Broncos will visit the Saints and 49ers.
Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. hopes for bigger success in his second NFL season and he’ll bring a bigger body with him in pursuit of that goal.
Harrison had a press conference at the team’s facility on Monday and one of the first questions concerned the 2024 first-round pick having a bulkier build than he had during his first NFL season. Harrison confirmed that there’s more of him this spring, which “just happened naturally” as a result of eating the right foods and the wideout said he’ll spend the rest of the offseason figuring out the best weight for him during the season.
“I definitely put on some pounds,” Harrison said. “I think I added some muscle to my body a little bit. Still just trying to see how my body feels throughout OTAs . . . Kind of get that specific weight to settle in for training camp and go from there.”
Harrison, who was the fourth overall pick last year, said “contested catch situations, run off the catch” when discussing areas he thinks that the added muscles could help him with in 2025. He had 62 catches for 885 yards and eight touchdowns to kick off his NFL career.
Larry Fitzgerald expects Marvin Harrison Jr. to be a better receiver in his second season, and Harrison expects the same.
He caught 62 passes for 855 yards and a team-leading eight touchdowns as a rookie in 2024.
His father, Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison, made 64 catches for 836 yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie in 1996.
“A little too similar in my opinion,” Harrison Jr. said, laughing, via video from Bo Brack of PHNX Cardinals. “But nah, it works out in mysterious ways, and it all worked out.”
Harrison Jr., whose father caught 73 passes for 866 yards and six touchdowns in his second season, has only one thing that will constitute improvement in Year 2.
“Improvement for me is winning more games,” Harrison Jr. said. “I want to get a home playoff game for Arizona. I actually went to the [Rams-Vikings playoff] game, and it was like, ‘There is a team playing the playoffs in our building.’ It just didn’t feel right.”
The Cardinals went 8-9 last season, missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season and for the eighth time in the past nine seasons. They have not won a playoff game since 2015 when Bruce Arians was the coach, Carson Palmer was the quarterback and Fitzgerald was the top wide receiver.
Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. had a solid rookie season in 2024, catching 62 passes for 855 yards and leading the team with eight touchdowns. But the greatest receiver in franchise history expects more from Harrison this year.
“I saw a guy who made a lot of plays,” Fitzgerald said of Harrison, via Theo Mackie of the Arizona Republic. “He did a really good job. When the ball came to him, he made his plays. He’s only gonna continue to get better so I’m excited to see his Year 2.”
Fitzgerald said he’s available to mentor Harrison but noted that a player with a father who’s a Hall of Fame wide receiver doesn’t need a lot of mentoring.
“If he ever needs anything, I told him, I’m always available for him any way I can be helpful,” Fitzgerald said. “But fortunately he has a father who was a heck of a lot better than I was so he can tap into him whenever he likes.”
Whether Harrison Sr. was better than Fitzgerald is open to debate, but what’s clear is that Harrison Jr. has the talent to be mentioned alongside either of them. The Cardinals hope to see Harrison Jr. begin his journey toward getting into that conversation in 2025.
