Cardinals edge rusher Josh Sweat is attending the team’s mandatory minicamp, but he is not participating.
Coach Mike LaFleur downplayed Sweat’s on-field absence and said he is not worried about Sweat “at all.”
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“The situation is, again, he hasn’t practiced,” LaFleur said, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN. “I’m not going to put a guy out on the field that hasn’t been out there to prep. That’s what Phase One and Phase Two [of the offseason program] are for, to get guys ready for Phase Three. Josh has always done this. Josh has always had his own program, and he’s not the first guy on any team I’ve been a part of that’s been a part of that. In San Francisco, L.A., we’ve always had guys that were kind of like that, and that’s OK. The one thing that you know about Josh is when he’s not in this building, he’s working and I think that shows when he gets out there on the field.”
Sweat missed all of the voluntary offseason program, choosing to work out on his own.
Sweat led the team with a career-high 12 sacks last season. He had signed a four-year, $76.4 million deal with the Cardinals to reunite with coach Jonathan Gannon, who was Sweat’s defensive coordinator in Philadelphia for two seasons.
The Cardinals have reportedly received trade calls regarding Sweat, but a recent report indicated the Cardinals do not intend to trade him.