Arizona Cardinals’ offensive tackle D.J. Humphries won’t get to experience free agency this offseason after all. Cardinals swooped in and tied Humphries to a new three-year deal that will pay him a total of $45 million. The deal was first reported by NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
According to Garofolo, Humphries’ new deal will pay him $30 million in the first two years, while the overall guaranteed money is set on $29 million.
Humphries started all 16 games last season and had a career year that saw him play 1047 snaps (100 percent) on the offense and add 72 on special teams. This made him an interesting piece for many teams ahead of the start of free agency, so Cardinals decided not to take any chances.
Arizona’s contract offer to Humphries didn’t come unexpected, as the 26-year-old recently received praise from the team’s general manager Steve Keim.
“I am very proud, not only of the way he played but also his maturation,” said Keim off Humphries. “The way he has progressed as a worker, as a leader. … (Offensive line coach) Sean Kugler has been fantastic for that room. It certainly was the area of the most improvement for our football team was the offensive line. They stayed healthy, we ran the football effectively this year, and D.J. Humphries was a big reason for that.”
D.J. Humphries entered the league in 2015 as the 24th overall pick in the draft. After struggling to make an impact in his rookie season, he spent his sophomore year being switched between right tackle and left tackle, which definitely didn’t help his case. The injuries also had a significant part in the low number of snaps he had in the next two years.
Humphries, however, used the opportunity given to him by the Cardinals’ new head coach Kiff Kingsbury and rescued his career to a point. Arizona, on the other hand, will hope that their confidence in him will pay off and that the good season he had in 2019 won’t be an outlier.
