Markus Golden back with Cardinals, acquired from Giants for 6th rounder
Oct 23, 2020, 2:15 PM | Updated: 6:22 pm
Arizona Cardinals outside linebacker Markus Golden (44) lines up against the Green Bay Packers during an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. (Jeff Haynes/AP Images for Panini)
(Jeff Haynes/AP Images for Panini)
The Arizona Cardinals’ first trade of the 2020 season is a reunion, with the return of pass rusher Markus Golden.
Arizona acquired Golden on Friday from the New York Giants in exchange for a 2021 sixth-round pick. The deal is pending a physical for Golden.
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) October 23, 2020
The former second-round pick of the Cardinals in the 2015 NFL Draft had a breakout 2016 campaign, recording a team-high 12.5 sacks and forming a fearsome one-two pass-rushing punch with Chandler Jones.
The next year, though, Golden tore his ACL four games into the season. He did not appear to be the same player he once was when he returned in 2018, starting 11 games and finishing with 20 tackles and 2.5 sacks.
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Golden signed a one-year deal with the Giants in 2019 and bounced back, recording 10.0 sacks under his former defensive coordinator in Arizona James Bettcher. Golden signed a one-year tender with New York in August to return to the team. This season he has 1.5 sacks in seven games.
Golden will give the Cardinals pass rush a needed boost after Jones was ruled out for the rest of the season in mid-October due to a biceps injury.
