Revenge of the Birds
NFL teams are allowed to keep 53 players on their active roster. Every club makes certain that their coffers are full at all times.
The Arizona Cardinals just added two players off waivers to get their roster back at the 53-man limit.
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On Thursday, the Cardinals claimed linebacker Austin Keys (6’-2”, 244 pounds) off the waiver wire from the Minnesota Vikings. Two days ago, the franchise also claimed and was awarded tight end Rivaldo Fairweather (6’-3”, 249 pounds) from the Dallas Cowboys practice squad.
Waiver wire players are awarded in reverse order of the current standings, which means Arizona has the Number 6 claim spot. Any team can claim any practice squad player at any time regardless of position, but the added player must go onto the active roster and not become a parallel move.
In corresponding moves, the Cardinals placed rookie safety Kitan Crawford on IR who is dealing with an ankle injury, and released OG Tyler Cooper from the practice squad.
Keys is an undrafted 2025 rookie who made the Vikings’ final roster after a fine career at Auburn. He has played in 11 games with zero starts with seven total tackles, one tackle for loss, one QB hit, one sack, one pressure, and zero missed tackles. He is a very good special teams player who has played on 191 ST snaps (64%). Crawford had played on 319 ST snaps, so the waiver claim makes sense.
Fairweather is also an Auburn alum. He has only preseason NFL game experience.
The Cardinals travel to Los Angeles for their final game of the season against the Rams in the Sunday afternoon slot. The Rams have already sewn up a playoff spot.
