The Arizona Cardinals announced that they had signed rookie free agent Stephen Dix, Jr., out of Arkansas to a training camp contract. Dix was a fifth-year senior and played in 54 contests for the Razorbacks.
He will be penciled in as quality depth for the WILL linebacker spot.
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Dix (6’-2”, 210 pounds) grew up in Orlando, Florida, where he attended Dr. Phillips High School, which has an enrollment of over 3,000 students. Dix played linebacker for the
football team and was a four-star recruit. He had plenty of college offers from North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Ohio State, South Carolina, Bowling Green, Clemson, Nebraska, Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida State, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama. He chose Florida State.
His football program captured the 2017 Florida 8A State Championship. Dix earned Florida Class 8A All-State honors.
Florida State played him right away, as he played in nine games as a true freshman, where he had 45 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss. In his sophomore campaign, Dix played in all 12 games but was injured in his junior year and redshirted.
He then transferred to Marshall University and played in all 13 games with 67 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and two sacks. Again, he transferred, this time to Arkansas. In two seasons he appeared in 25 games with 20 starts and had 72 tackles in 2024 and 79 tackles this past season.
For his college career, Dix played in 59 games with 277 total tackles, five sacks, two fumble recoveries, three batted passes, and 17 tackles for loss.
Dix enters a pretty full linebacker room. Cody Simon is listed as the starter at the WILL position. Behind him is Jack Gibbens, who was signed in free agency, then Austin Keys, who went undrafted in the 2025 NFL draft. Gibbens came from the New England Patriots, where he made 81 tackles in their Super Bowl run. Simon was drafted by Arizona in the fourth round of the 2025 draft.
The Cardinals drafted a linebacker in this year’s draft when they selected Karson Sharar in Round 6 out of Iowa.
Dix college accolades:
- Freshman All-American honors from rivals.com
- ACC Honor Roll
- Co-winner of the “Devaughn Darling Defensive Freshman of the Year” Award
- Seminole Scholar
