Jermaine Gresham & Zach Miller Could Be Options For Cardinals Following John Carlson’s Retirement

On Tuesday, Cardinals TE John Carlson surprisingly announced that he’s retiring from the NFL.

According to Kent Somers, the Cardinals were not shocked by the news, but they also weren’t aware of Carlson’s plan to retire before the draft or they may have targeted a tight end during last week’s draft.

Charles Robinson mentions that the Cardinals could have interest in veteran free agents like Jermaine Gresham or Zach Miller.

Robinson concedes that Gresham would have to check out medically for him to a realistic option for the Cardinals.

As things stand right now, the Cardinals have Darren Fells, Troy Niklas, Gerald Christian, and Ted Bolser on their roster at tight end.

Gresham is clearly one of the best available free agents. However, he diagnosed with a herniated disc a few months ago and wound up undergoing surgery, which took him out of the running for a number of jobs around the league.

The Browns, Raiders and Bills were all linked to Gresham before the injury was discovered, so when he’s healthy there could be a decent market for his services.

Gresham, 26, is a former first-round pick of the Bengals back in 2010, but he never managed to live up to his draft status during his time with the team.

In 2014, Gresham caught 62 passes for 460 yards receiving and five touchdowns over the course of 15 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 37 tight end out of 67 qualifying players.

Miller, 29, was released by the Seahawks back in early March in a move that cleared $2,390,625 in cap space for the team.

In 2014, Miller was limited to appearing in three games due to an ankle injury and caught just six passes for 76 yards receiving.

We have both players featured in our Top 25 Available Free Agents list.