Cardinals Sign Two Players After Tryout

The Arizona Cardinals have multiple questions heading into training camp and they answered a few with the addition of two new players.

The Cardinals announced that they have signed cornerback Josh Jackson and linebacker Ben Niemann. Both players participated in tryouts during this week's minicamp.

Arizona waived safety Javon Hagan following the signing of the two new players.

Jackson spent the second half of last season on the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad following a two-months stay with the New York Giants where he was inactive for the first seven games. Jackson was acquired by the Giants from the Packers in an Aug. 17 trade. He was waived by the Giants on Oct. 26 and signed to Kansas City's practice squad three days later. He was elevated from the practice squad for two games and earned four tackles. He was released from the practice squad on Jan. 18. The majority of his four-year career was with Green Bay.

In his three seasons with the Packers, the 6-foot cornerback started 15 games and played in 44 during which he accrued 86 tackles, one fumble, and one fumble recovery. The 26-year-old was selected in the second round of the 2018 draft.

The Cardinals left minicamp with nine cornerbacks on their roster, but there are many questions concerning how the team will find a suitable cornerback to replace Jeff Gladney. Gladney was signed by the Cardinals in March, but was killed in a car accident in late May.

Jackson will compete with cornerbacks Marco Wilson, Byron Murphy Jr., Antonio Hamilton and Jace Whittaker as well as seventh-round pick Christian Matthew, Breon Borders, Nate Brooks and Darrell Baker Jr. 

Niemann played for the Chiefs since 2018. An undrafted rookie that year, in four seasons he started in 12 games but played in 62, earning 167 tackles (110 solo), six tackles for loss and five fumble recoveries. He became an unrestricted free agent in March.

Niemann played mostly on special teams when in Kansas City, but saw his defensive snap count increase throughout his time with the team. After playing in only 6% of the team's defensive snaps in 2018, he increased that to 36% in 2019, 47% in 2020 and 50% in 2021. Last season, he played in 17 games with five starts and had a career-high 57 tackles.

The 26-year-old linebacker is currently listed as an inside linebacker on the Cardinals roster.

Both players were teammates in college at Iowa.