Cardinals sign LB Jack Gibbens, DL Andrew Billings
The Arizona Cardinals signed linebacker Jack Gibbens and defensive lineman Andrew Billings on Monday, the team announced.
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The Arizona Cardinals signed linebacker Jack Gibbens and defensive lineman Andrew Billings on Monday, the team announced.
It’s a two-year contract for Gibbens, while Billings inked a one-year deal.
Gibbens is coming off a career high 17 games played (eight starts) last year for the New England Patriots. During that span, the linebacker had one sack, 81 tackles, four passes defensed, a forced fumble and three QB hits.
He added 19 tackles across four playoff games (two starts).
Before his one-year stint with the Patriots, Gibbens spent three seasons with the Tennessee Titans after signing on as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2022.
Gibbens now joins a room led by Mack Wilson Sr. and Cody Simon. Owen Pappoe and Austin Keys round out the position.
Billings comes over to Arizona after spending the past three seasons with the Chicago Bears.
Last year, Billings started 14 of 17 games, registering a sack, six tackles for loss and five QB hits.
Since entering the league as a 2016 fourth-round pick with the Cincinnati Bengals (2016-19), Billings has had stints with the Cleveland Browns (2020-21), Miami Dolphins (2021), Kansas City Chiefs (2021), Las Vegas Raiders (2022) and Bears (2023-25).
Billings’ best season as a pro came in 2018 when the defensive lineman recorded 2.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss and seven QB hits in 16 starts.
Billings joins a defensive line room headlined by Walter Nolen III, Jonah Williams, Darius Robinson and Dante Stills.
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Comments
7 Comments
Andrew seems good
These two are really good pickups, especially Andrew Billings.Last year he dealt with a few injuries that affected his play but previously he has a track record of success as a very good iDL, he’s both very good run defender n pass rusher. In 2024 he was a beast recording a 78.6 PFF pass-rush grade on 297 pass rusher snaps in 2024, ranking 10th among 219 qualifying interior defenders. Known for his strong bull rush, he provides consistent disruption. In 2023 he has a 68.5 PFF Grade. He’s known to be a high motor player who bulls linemen over with his length n power. Bringing in Billings, Williams n Roy Lopez is a nice boost to the DL.
At ILB Gibbens is a nice pickup to. Gibbens is good at everything both versus the run n pass but great at nothing but we don’t need him to be so long as he’s above avg both in coverage n versus the run. Last season he had a 64.8 PFF Grade overall strong both in cov n vs the run, and also is a solid pass rusher. I think Gibbens will give Mack Wilson Sr a run for his money to start, and Cody Simon flashed serious potential at ILB and should make a big yr2 leap showing a lot of improvement from yr1 now that he’s comfortable in the system he’s in.
That’s one reason I’m glad they kept Rallis as there are so many young guys on that side of the ball going into yr2-3 who should make leaps this year continuity is everything for those young guys. They can just play without thinking to much which they definitely would have been doing the first 8-10 weeks had we signed a new DC.
Billings and Lopez man the interior at NG while Gibbens provides depth at LB and, if I remember correctly, a pretty good Special Teams player.
Good signings.