Cardinals S Tony Jefferson Expected To Test Free Agent Market

Update:

Jason La Canfora mentions that he would be “absolutely shocked” if Cardinals S Tony Jefferson didn’t test the open market next month.

• According to La Canfora, a return to Arizona is “not in the cards” for Jefferson, who could end up being the second-highest paid safety after Eric Berry.
• Matt Miller adds that the expectation from his sources is that Jefferson should be able to secure $7 million per year in his next contract.

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Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic, citing an NFL source, reports that the Cardinals have been in “serious negotiations” with the representative for free agent S Tony Jefferson.

According to Somers, the Cardinals have also had positive discussions with free agent OLB Chandler Jones but a deal is not considered imminent at this point in time.

Arizona has made it clear that they will franchise Jones in the coming weeks if needed. However, one report recently mentioned that they would do so with the intention of continuing to work on a long-term deal.

Jefferson, 25, wound up signing on with the Cardinals as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma back in 2013. He returned to the Cardinals on a one-year, $1.671 million restricted tender last April.

He’s now in position to be an unrestricted free agent in the coming weeks.

In 2016, Jefferson appeared in 15 games for the Cardinals and recorded 96 tackles, two sacks, two recoveries, two forced fumbles and five pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 5 safety out of 89 qualifying players.

Jones, 26, is a former first-round pick of the Patriots back in 2012. He played out his four-year, $8.173 million contract before the Patriots picked up his fifth-year option back in April of 2015.

The Patriots elected to trade Jones to the Cardinals during the offseason for G Jonathan Cooper and a 2016 second-round pick. Jones will an unrestricted free agent next year.

In 2016, Jones appeared in all 16 games and recorded 49 tackles, 11 sacks, two forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and three pass defenses for the Cardinals. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 7 edge rusher out of 109 qualifying players.

We have both of them featured in our Top 100 – 2017 Free Agents list.