Free agent Cardinals targeted got 1 of 5 worst contracts of offseason

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The Arizona Cardinals wanted to land former Philadelphia Eagles and now New England Patriots defensive lineman Milton Williams. The Cardinals were one of the teams in the mix vying to sign him. The Cardinals lost out and Williams got a four-year, $104 million contract. The $26 million per year was the highest contract average given out to an unrestricted free agent.

While he was a player the Cardinals wanted, according to Pro Football Network, it was one of the five worst contracts given out so far.

Williams will be only 26 years old this season, and players do improve as they develop. But the Patriots aren’t just betting that his 14.2% pressure rate over 282 pass-rush snaps is real — they’re also betting that he can maintain that efficiency while playing significantly more snaps.

There are cases where small sample-size success translates to bigger roles. Trey Hendrickson, for example, never played more than 53% of the defensive snaps with the Saints but posted a career-high 14.4% pressure rate in 2020. Since then, he’s sustained or exceeded that rate in each of his four seasons with Cincinnati while handling a larger workload.

Williams could follow a similar trajectory and develop into the elite pass rusher New England is paying him to be. However, history suggests that banking on limited sample sizes in free agency is often risky. If Williams doesn’t maintain his 2024 production, his contract could become another cautionary tale.

Williams would have been a nice addition to the Cardinals. However, paying a guy $26 million per year when he has never had more than five sacks and never played more than half of his team's defensive snaps feels like a bust of a contract ready to happen.

The Cardinals ended up landing 31-year-old defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson, who has had 11 more quarterback hits in the last three seasons than Williams has had in his four-year career, and only had to give him a two-year, $29 million deal.

The Cardinals got two pass rushers — Josh Sweat and Baron Browning — for an average of a little more than $26 million per season. Browning has as many sacks (11.5) in his four-year career as Williams, and Sweat had eight last season.

Cardinals fans should be glad they didn't land Williams at that price.

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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Milton Williams contract named among worst of NFL free agency

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