Arizona Cardinals release Bilal Nichols and Akeem Davis-Gaither

Dec 21, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither (27) against the Atlanta Falcons at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Arizona Cardinals are getting active in their offseason, and their first official move, even with the knowledge they are moving on from Kyler Murray, is the release of two veteran defensive players.

From the team:

The Arizona Cardinals Football Club today announced that the team has released linebackerAkeem Davis-Gaitherand defensive linemanBilal Nichols.

Bilal Nichols was an injury riddled veteran failure of a signing. We can't even know if he would have played well because he only saw action in 10 games and played 234 snaps.

I mean that may be good enough to pay a quarterback $20-plus million in free agency, but realistically it was a flop.

Meanwhile, the signing of Akeem Davis-Gaither was always interesting. He was never an every down player for the Bengals, who desperately needed help at linebacker, but the Cardinals thought he could do it. Instead, he had a bunch of tackles, that were down the field and not exactly impactful.

The moves, well they free up nearly $11 million in salary cap space.

The Arizona Cardinals are releasing veterans Akeem Davis-Gaither and Bilal Nichols (per the team site).

The move frees up nearly $11 million dollars in cap space. pic.twitter.com/xpPzXJvDkD

- PHNX Cardinals (@PHNX_Cardinals) March 5, 2026

Good luck to both in whatever is next.