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There weren’t many raised eyebrows when the Arizona Cardinals recently signed versatile defensive back Isaiah Oliver, who has played cornerback and safety during his eight-year career in which he’s played 110 games with 53 starts.
While the contract Oliver signed didn’t require a significant financial investment, the terms of the deal show a clear indication that he wasn’t simply a run-of-the-mill free agent signing at this stage of the offseason.
A large majority of the veteran players added to rosters after the draft, and many before, have agreed to one-year contracts for the league minimum with no guaranteed money.
Since the April 27 deadline for teams to tender minimum contracts to players that became unrestricted free agents in March, 36 (including Oliver) have signed after not receiving the tender and only 16 received any guarantees.
Oliver did sign a qualifying one-year contract that lowers the salary-cap charge for the base salary. However, Oliver’s deal also includes $287,500 guaranteed along with a max $100,000 per-game active roster bonus ($5,882 per game).
It appears clear that a knee injury which ended Oliver’s 2025 season with the New York Jets after 14 games and two starts kept his status in limbo for nearly three months.
Thus, the Cardinals were able to add a possible solid depth piece in the secondary as well as a potential contributor on special teams.
Oliver’s contract has a total value of $1,487,500, including a base salary of $1.03 million, of which $200,000 is guaranteed, and $1.075 million counts against the qcap. He received a signing bonus of $87,500 along with the per-game bonus. Only 14 games of the bonus will count against the cap this year to create a cap charge of $1.245 million if he makes the 53-man roster.
That figure doesn’t immediately count against the cap because it is one slot below the 51-player offseason cutoff that is currently $1.256 million, according to Over the Cap.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Contract details for Arizona Cardinals S Isaiah Oliver
Continue reading...
While the contract Oliver signed didn’t require a significant financial investment, the terms of the deal show a clear indication that he wasn’t simply a run-of-the-mill free agent signing at this stage of the offseason.
A large majority of the veteran players added to rosters after the draft, and many before, have agreed to one-year contracts for the league minimum with no guaranteed money.
Since the April 27 deadline for teams to tender minimum contracts to players that became unrestricted free agents in March, 36 (including Oliver) have signed after not receiving the tender and only 16 received any guarantees.
Oliver did sign a qualifying one-year contract that lowers the salary-cap charge for the base salary. However, Oliver’s deal also includes $287,500 guaranteed along with a max $100,000 per-game active roster bonus ($5,882 per game).
It appears clear that a knee injury which ended Oliver’s 2025 season with the New York Jets after 14 games and two starts kept his status in limbo for nearly three months.
Thus, the Cardinals were able to add a possible solid depth piece in the secondary as well as a potential contributor on special teams.
Oliver’s contract has a total value of $1,487,500, including a base salary of $1.03 million, of which $200,000 is guaranteed, and $1.075 million counts against the qcap. He received a signing bonus of $87,500 along with the per-game bonus. Only 14 games of the bonus will count against the cap this year to create a cap charge of $1.245 million if he makes the 53-man roster.
That figure doesn’t immediately count against the cap because it is one slot below the 51-player offseason cutoff that is currently $1.256 million, according to Over the Cap.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Contract details for Arizona Cardinals S Isaiah Oliver
Continue reading...
