Cardinals release running back Alfred Morris, sign LB Zach Brown

The Arizona Cardinals have released veteran running back Alfred Morris on Friday after a week-plus stint with the team and signed linebacker Zach Brown.

The move to release Morris was first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Head coach Kliff Kingsbury confirmed Friday that releasing Morris is a good sign for David Johnson (ankle), while Chase Edmonds (hamstring) is still recovering. Johnson was listed as questionable heading into Arizona’s Week 9 game against the San Francisco 49ers and went through individual warmups prior to Thursday’s 28-25 loss.

“We feel like David has made significant progress and has a chance to be up this weekend, and so we went ahead and released Alfred,” Kingsbury said.

Brown is a former member of the Philadelphia Eagles and had 149 tackles in 2016, a season in which he was selected to the Pro Bowl. He has played exactly 100 NFL games with the Eagles, Bills, Redskins and Titans. He also has 17.5 career sacks.

Signed on Oct. 23 along with fellow back Zach Zenner, Morris was not active in Week 8 against the New Orleans Saints.

He played only three snaps Thursday and took one carry for four yards.

The 30-year old back has 5,935 rushing yards and 34 touchdowns in his eight-year NFL career that has included stints with Washington (2012-15), Dallas (2016-17) and San Francisco (2018).

Against the 49ers on Thursday, Arizona leaned heavily on running back Kenyan Drake against San Francisco just four days after the team traded a conditional late-round pick to Miami for his services.

Drake rushed for 110 yards and added 52 more receiving. He scored a touchdown in one of his 48 offensive snaps; he was on the field for 84% of the Cardinals’ offensive plays.

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