Josh Sweat has been worth every penny (and more) for Cardinals

GLENDALE — The Arizona Cardinals’ biggest free-agent addition in years and pass rusher Josh Sweat is leaving nothing up for discussion in 2025.

Five weeks in and the pass rusher has brought exactly what Arizona’s defense had been missing in recent years.

Week 5’s 22-21 loss to the Tennessee Titans was the latest example.

Racking up his fourth sack in as many weeks behind a second-quarter takedown of Cam Ward, Sweat marks the first Cardinals player with at least four straight games with a sack since Chandler Jones (five games) in 2018.

Sweat’s four sacks are also a career high for the pass rusher through his first five games of a season.

He’s posted just one five-game sack streak in his career (2022).

Sweat wasn’t done there, adding another sack alongside Baron Browning late in the second quarter.

To go along with the two sacks, Sweat registered two QB hits, two tackles for loss and a pass defensed in the first half.

The veteran pass rusher wasn’t the only Cardinals defender making their presence felt on Sunday, either.

His pass-rushing running mate Baron Browning recorded his second takeaway of the season after defensive lineman Zach Carter jarred the ball out of Tony Pollard’s grasp.

The turnover put Arizona’s offense in prime real estate on Tennessee’s 27-yard line.

The Cardinals needed just four plays to find pay dirt behind a Bam Knight one-yard TD run.

Browning followed his early playmaking up late in the second quarter. Looking like he was shot out of a cannon, Browning knocked Ward off kilter before Sweat came in for the finishing blow.

That early success wouldn’t translate to a victory, however, with the Cardinals quick-fire offense burning out in the third quarter, and Ward totaling 193 yards in the fourth quarter alone to mount one of the most improbably comebacks in years.

Back-breaking plays from Emari Demercado and Rabbit Taylor-Demerson did Arizona zero favors.

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