The Arizona Cardinals agreed to acquire veteran center Rodney Hudson of the Las Vegas Raiders with an exchange of concepts, reports Mike Garafolo of NFL Network and ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Schefter adds that the exchange is going for a third-round pick in Arizona according to Las Vegas. The Cardinals will get a seventh round from Raiders.
Las Vegas was reportedly willing to release Hudson before working out the trade just before the MST deadline for the new NFL league year.
Hudson (31) is a three-time Pro Bowler (2016-17, 2019) who was the second All-Pro team in 2019.
The Cardinals will sign a contract for Hudson that has two years left, including 2021.
Hudson will play a starting role ahead of center Mason Cole and Lamont Gaillard.
He posted a 73.6 rating on Pro Football Focus last season, which is much higher than the site’s rating for Cole (54.4) and Gaillard (48.1).
This is not a surprising move for the Cardinals, after Sean Kugler, coordinator and attacking line coach, suggested in February that the status quo was not good enough.
He effectively opened up the role of starting point for taking business after Cole and Gaillard had an up and down in 2020.
“Both of those guys sometimes played very well … both guys, they struggled, both young players,” Kugler said. “The overall position in the middle should, in my opinion, take the next step to get better.”
Cole came off in Week 1 with an injury and was played relatively well by Gaillard for two weeks. Gaillard has done enough throughout the year to earn more significant snaps in the last month of 2020.
At the end of the season, Cole, Arizona’s third-round pick in 2018, played 914 snaps against Gaillard’s 219. Gaillard was drafted in Arizona in the sixth round in 2019.
The duo combined seven penalty kicks, though they were by far not the only penalty-scoring players along the attacking line.
Perhaps the Cardinals see the loss of veteran center AQ Shipley’s voice in the room after the 2019 season as a reason for the increase in errors along the line.
Either way, it’s clear Arizona is anticipating the growth of third-year quarterback Kyler Murray.
In the past month, Arizona has preferred the improvement in the trenches. General manager Steve Keim kicked off the season by signing defensive line JJ Watt and retaining leaders Markus Golden and Dennis Gardeck.
While the Cardinals missed them or eliminated themselves from landing the top center on the market – former Packers center Corey Linsley signed a record deal with the Los Angeles Chargers – they strengthened their line.
The Cardinals can make more decisions right from the center even after Kelvin Beachum is re-signed.
Right-back JR Sweezy, who lost his opening role to Justin Murray last year, is also a free agent.
