Former WSU star Gardner Minshew agrees to 1-year deal with Cardinals | NFL locals

Former Washington State star quarterback Gardner Minshew is on the move again.

If he hadn’t already hit journeyman status, Minshew’s one-year, $8 million deal agreed to Monday with the Arizona Cardinals will cement that title.

Minshew is joining his fifth team in five years. He’s started sparingly, mainly playing as a backup with the Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs since being selected by Jacksonville in the sixth round of the 2019 draft.

Minshew played parts of four games last season and made one start, filling in for Patrick Mahomes, who went down with a knee injury. He also suffered a season-ending injury after completing 3 of 8 attempts for 15 yards against the Titans in Week 16.

The Cardinals are expected to move on from quarterback Kyler Murray . Minshew will likely find himself competing with Jacoby Brissett and potentially a draft pick for the starting job.

Arizona was 3-14 last season.

Kendrick Bourne also heading to Arizona

The former Eastern Washington receiver is reportedly joining the Cardinals on a two-year deal worth $10 million.

Bourne, who is entering his 10th year in the league, spent last season with San Francisco, appearing in 16 games with eight starts. He totaled 551 receiving yards on 37 catches but didn’t have a touchdown. Bourne piled up 142 yards in back-to-back weeks in October. He reached a $500,000 incentive for recording over 500 yards.

Bourne signed with the 49ers in 2017 after going undrafted out of EWU, and spent four seasons with the franchise before a four-year stint in New England. During his first stint with San Francisco, Bourne played for new Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur, who served as the 49ers’ passing game coordinator from 2017-20 and coached the team’s receivers from 2017-18.

For his career, Bourne has 4,265 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns on 329 receptions over 127 games (42 starts). His best season came with New England in 2021, when he totaled 800 yards and five touchdowns.

Jalen Thompson signs with Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys have agreed to a three-year, $33 million deal with safety Jalen Thompson, a former WSU standout. The deal is worth up to $36 million in incentives. ESPN first reported the news.

The deal, if it matches the incentive structure, would be the richest external free -agent deal ever signed by the franchise at $12 million per season. Previously, defensive end Greg Hardy’s $11.3 million deal for one year in 2015 was the richest deal made by the team.

Thompson was identified early on as a free agent target by the Cowboys and defensive coordinator Christian Parker. New secondary coach Ryan Smith coached Thompson with the Arizona Cardinals for the last three seasons, leading to a strong co-sign on the defensive staff to fill a hole on a depleted defense from 2025.

The team brings in Thompson with the expectation to play strong safety, but his versatility to play in the box and in the nickel corner spot will give the team freedom in free agency and in the draft to acquire some pieces around him.

In seven seasons in Arizona, Thompson tallied 578 tackles, 37 pass deflections and nine interceptions. His reliable production in one-on-one tackling serves as a big plus to a Cowboys defense that had issues with missed tackles all year in 2025.

Jaylen Watson joins Rams

Former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson has agreed to a three-year, $51 million deal with the Los Angeles Rams with $34 million guaranteed, according to a league source.

Watson, who turns 28 in September, was a surprising star for Kansas City since being drafted in the seventh round out of WSU.

Watson gave the Chiefs consistent outside cornerback play while also serving as a willing tackler in the run game. He is versatile, and shows a specific ability to thrive in man coverage thanks to his physicality.

Per Pro Football Focus, Watson was one of just two cornerbacks in 2025 that played half their team’s coverage snaps and did not allow a touchdown. The other was Pittsburgh’s Joey Porter Jr.

In addition, Watson’s 69.0 quarterback passer rating allowed when targeted ranked eighth among the 69 qualified corners in 2025.