The Arizona Cardinals had plenty of holes after the final game of the 2025 season. Through free agency, Monti Ossenfort has been busy signed new guys to fill the positions of the players who have departed, or weren’t asked to return.
On Monday, Ossenfort filled
a huge need when he inked veteran safety Andrew Wingard away from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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Wingard, age 29, will fill the void left by Jalen Thompson, who was signed by the Dallas Cowboys. He went undrafted in 2019 after being named three-time First Team All-Mountain West Conference out of Wyoming. He then signed a three-year deal with Jacksonville for $1.76 million with a signing bonus of $5,000. He then had a great training camp and made the final roster.
It took three seasons for him to become a starter, when he had 15 starts in 2021. For his career, Wingard (6’-0”, 200 pounds) has played seven NFL seasons and been in 102 games with 44 starts, 349 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 6 interceptions, 6 QB hits, 2 sacks, 22 batted passes, two fumble recoveries, 4 knockdowns, 9 hurries, 15 pressures, and 37 missed tackles.
In pass coverage, Wingard has defended 63 targets with 33 completions, 6 picks, and a 52.4% completion percentage.
This past season, the Jaguars went 13-4-0 and won the AFC South Division plus garnered the #3 seed in the playoffs. The defense was one of the main reasons why the roster was turned around from going 4-13-0 the season before.
This group was ranked #11 overall and had the #1 run defense. Their defense led the league with 110 points off takeaways. Wingard was an active tackler and blitzed 38 times. He had 84 tackles, one pick, and nine missed tackles.
Wingard was a Jaguars fan-favorite because of how vocal and passionate about the game he has shown. He had no shortage of suitors after he became available in the open market. The fact that he signed with the Cardinals in the second week of the 2026 free agency period does not mean he is an afterthought. Quite the opposite. His agent had to weed through the offers, make counterproposals, and so on.
The player chose to come to Arizona. Maybe it was money, maybe he likes warm climates. Maybe he wanted to play in the NFC.
Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report had this to say about Wingard:
“Wingard is more box safety than deep safety, but he’s not a liability in coverage. He posted a respectable passer rating against of 80.5 in 2025 and has a career completion percentage of less than 60. Like all the veterans on this list, Wingard isn’t a star. But he’s a physical safety who can hold his own against the pass, who just held down the back end of the defense capably for a 13-win Jaguars team.”
Ossenfort was looking for Thompson’s replacement and nailed it by getting in a solid guy who will start Week 1. Nobody will deny that Wingard has exceeded expectations, going from an undrafted rookie to a special teams demon to playing a prominent role with a very good defensive unit.
He isn’t a superstar like Budda Baker. But he had a huge following in Jacksonville. Jamal St. Cyr of News4Jax in Jacksonville stated after doing an interview with Wingard:
“Oh, he’s intense. He’s intense. I’d love to be in a bar fight with him, because I know he would absolutely just do whatever it takes to go kick someone’s [expletive] or help his brother out. But he’s intense. I love him. You can just tell he’s a dawg.”
The scouting report points to his intelligence and high football IQ. He was the captain of the defense. Unfortunately, a knee injury cut his time down in 2024 to just eight games. But he came back with a vengeance this year with 84 tackles and 16 starts.
The signing of Wingard now adds to each level of the defense that Ossenfort has provided in free agency: DE Jonah Williams, LB Jack Gibbens, DT Andrew Billings, DT Roy Lopez III, and CB Starling Thomas.
In the interview with St. Cyr, Wingard stated:
“I just love playing football still. I love being out here and competing. And we’re going to keep this thing going as long as we can. I just do my thing. I trust my instinct. You can do all you want X’s and O’s if you don’t have the violent culture and the want to and the hunt with each other every Sunday. That’s what great defenses are built on.”
A violent culture is exactly what this Cardinals defense needs going forward.
