Arizona Cardinals sign veteran linebacker Desmond Bishop

The Arizona Cardinals have three open roster spots as they prepare for their second of four preseason games Saturday night against the Minnesota Vikings.

Thursday morning, they filled one of those available spots, according to Cardinals media relations guru Mark Dalton.

Cards sign veteran LB Desmond Bishop; spent 6 seasons w Packers before playing for Vikings in ‘13

— MarkDalton (@CardsMarkD) August 14, 2014

Bishop, a 30-year-old linebacker, hasn’t been on the field too much in the last two seasons. In 2012, while a member of the Green Bay Packers, Bishop injured his hamstring in a preseason game. The injury required surgery and he was released in June of 2013.

He was later signed by Minnesota and played four games before tearing the ACL in his right knee and missing the rest of the season.

“He’s played inside, he’s played outside. We’re going to look at him at inside,” head coach Bruce Arians said Thursday. “He’s had 120-something tackles some years and he’s coming back from surgery, so he was a guy that we’ve had our eye on for a long time. He worked out for us twice and he’s healthy enough to get going.

“We’ve been looking forward to this and getting him into the mix.”

In all, the former sixth-round pick out of Cal spent six years with the Packers. His best years came in 2010 and 2011 when he combined for 218 total tackles and eight quarterback sacks. Bishop started for the Packers in their Super Bowl XLV win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, registering eight tackles and three tackles for loss.

If healthy, Bishop could add depth to the Cardinals inside linebacker positions which were deeply affected by the loss of Karlos Dansby to free agency and Daryl Washington to a suspension.

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