Cardinals Releasing C Rodney Hudson & WR Robbie Anderson

According to Ian Rapoport, the Cardinals are releasing C Rodney Hudson and WR Robbie Anderson in cost-saving moves. 

This had been expected with Anderson, who legally changed his first name to Chosen, as it saves $12 million and the speedster never made an impact after a midseason trade from the Panthers. 

Rapoport notes the Cardinals expect Hudson to retire and he had already agreed to reduce his salary down to $2 million. 

Hudson, 33, is a former second-round pick of the Chiefs back in 2011. He played out his four-year, $3,506,100 rookie contract in Kansas City before agreeing to a five-year, $44.5 million contract with the Raiders for the 2015 season.

Hudson was set to make a base salary of $8.25 million for the 2019 season before signing a three-year extension with the Raiders worth $33.75 million with $24.4 million guaranteed.

However, the Raiders traded him to the Cardinals prior to the 2021 season and he was later placed on injured reserve with a knee injury in 2022.

In 2022, Hudson appeared in and started four games for the Cardinals as their center. 

Anderson, 29, signed with the Jets as an undrafted free agent out of Temple back in 2016. He played out his three-year rookie contract and re-signed to a one-year, $3.095 million deal as a restricted free agent in 2019. 

As a first-time unrestricted free agent in 2020, Anderson signed a two-year, $20 million deal with the Panthers and chose to reunite with his college head coach, Matt Rhule.

He was in line to be an unrestricted free agent in 2022 before he agreed to a two-year, $29.5 million extension with the Panthers back in August of 2021. However, he was traded during the 2022 season to the Cardinals. 

In 2022, Anderson appeared in five games for the Panthers and 10 for the Cardinals. He caught 20 passes on 44 targets for 282 yards receiving and one touchdown.