Uncertainty Around Rodney Hudson Looms Over Cardinals

A decision to retire or step away from football by Hudson could change everything for the Arizona Cardinals.

I’ve loved everything Rodney Hudson has brought to the Arizona Cardinals in the past year. In my opinion, he was the most impactful player on the Cardinals offense last season outside of Kyler Murray, but one thing that stands true is that Hudson should’ve never been in Arizona to begin with.

Let’s go back to the 2021 offseason when Hudson was acquired via trade from the Las Vegas Raiders. Going into the offseason, the Cardinals had plenty of needs, and center was one of them. Then free agent Corey Linsley (now a member of the Los Angeles Chargers) was originally linked to the Cards. Linsley was the consensus top free agent center, and rightfully so. He was fresh off of an All-Pro season that nodded him an 89.9 grade from Pro Football Focus (PFF). Allegedly, Linsley was the Cardinal’s top priority of the 2021 offseason, and Arizona offered him a 3-year, $30 million deal. Linsley went on to sign a deal with the Chargers for 5 years, $62 million , and he also went on to rank as the second best center of the 2021 season by PFF.

After passing on Linsley, there seemingly wasn’t an upgrade left in free agency at the center position. A surprise to many, Hudson was on the outs with the Raiders, and instead of cutting him, Oakland decided to trade him to the Cardinals. Arizona was able to swoop in and acquire one of the NFL’s premier centers for a 3rd round pick and gave him a new 3-year, $30 million deal just like they wanted to give to Linsley.

Now you could say the Cardinals were right to pass on Linsley for the contract or that it ended up working out with acquiring Hudson, but the reality is the Cardinals and general manager Steve Keim got lucky with Hudson becoming available. The Hudson deal seemingly materialized out of nowhere, but similar to how Hudson became available, he’s likely walking away from the Cardinals just as quickly. A decision to retire or step away from football by Hudson could change everything for the Cardinals this upcoming season. His decision to retire or step away has been looming all offseason, and in all likelihood, it is heading in that direction.

A future without Hudson

If he does end up not playing this season, this would now be back-to-back years that newly acquired Arizona Cardinals have decided to step away from the game. The bigger question is, are they stepping away from the organization? The reasoning behind him presumably debating retirement is unknown at this point, but I’ll leave that for you all to speculate.

With Hudson gone, the replacements to fill his void are not ideal, to say the least. Any free agent signed at this point in the offseason, especially offensive lineman, you have to be skeptical about how good they actually are. Decent offensive lineman typically don’t become available in the NFL, and names that have been thrown around like JC Tretter, Nick Martin, and Matt Paradis don’t really move the needle for me. Then there’s also the possibility of Justin Pugh being moved to the center spot. But last year, when Max Garcia, a traditional guard, slid in at center with Hudson gone the Cardinals’ offense didn’t see much success.

Hopefully, the Hudson situation comes to a resolution soon. There is still a possibility that he will be in a Cardinals uniform this season, but it is looking less and less likely as the preseason nears. If he’s not playing, expect to see our fair share of bad snaps and “Kyler Ball” to start off the season until the new center and Kyler Murray get some chemistry.

The Cardinal Rule’s latest TCR! Live stream covered the Rodney Hudson situation in-depth. Give it a listen!