The Arizona Cardinals had a pair of players who were restricted free agents, had the Cardinals used a qualifying tender on either.
However, the Cardinals elected not to extend either quarterback David Blough or wide receiver Antoine Wesley a restricted free agent tender.
They now are unrestricted free agents.
Wesley did not play last season as he was on injured reserve. He caught 19 passes and scored three touchdowns in 2021.
Blough was a late-season addition last year and started two games to end the year.
Teams can use a first-round tender to keep a restricted free agent. It pays the player $6.005 million. The player can negotiate deals elsewhere but the original team can match the offer and, if the offering team is allowed to sign him, the original team would get a first-round pick as compensation.
There is a second-round tender at $4.304 million, an original-round tender at $2.743 million and a right-of-first-refusal tender at $2.627 million.
In all cases the original team can match the offer of another team.
Neither Wesley nor Blough figure to be major parts of the 2023 season, so paying them that much didn’t make sense.
They still can re-sign with the Cardinals or sign elsewhere without restriction.
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