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Zaven Collins Emerges as a Cardinals Trade Chip With Contenders Hunting Run Defenders
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- Zaven Collins Emerges as a Cardinals Trade Chip With Contenders Hunting Run Defenders
Zaven Collins has held a few different jobs with the Arizona Cardinals. They drafted him 16th overall in 2021, played him at inside linebacker for two seasons and moved him to the edge in 2023. A year later, a rival scout told Athlon Sports he "has never really lived up to his first-round status." The view is different now. PFF's Bradley Locker named the 27-year-old one of 15 trade candidates ahead of the Nov. 10 deadline and listed the Cowboys, Eagles, Bears and 49ers as possible fits.
Locker wrote that Collins "has quietly rounded into a very sound player." His 90.6 PFF run-defense grade trails only T.J. Watt and Will Anderson Jr. among edge rushers, and his 9.8% run stop rate sits in the 84th percentile, per PFF. His 86.8 overall PFF grade ranks seventh among 108 edge defenders . He has 14 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in four games while playing 112 of Arizona's 246 defensive snaps, according to PFF.
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Collins' expiring contract keeps a trade simple
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) moves the ball from Arizona Cardinals linebacker Zaven Collins (25) during the third quarter at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Sept. 25, 2022.Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Run defense is why Locker's fits make sense. Cowboys edge defenders own the worst PFF run-defense grade and Philadelphia sits 31st in the same measure, per PFF. The fits are his projections, and Locker does not report that any team has called Arizona. San Francisco is 4-0, Chicago is 3-1 and Dallas and Philadelphia are 2-2. Each has at least $7.3 million in cap space , per Over the Cap.
Financials surrounding a potential trade of Zaven Collins
Cardinals linebacker Zaven Collins (25) wipes his forehead in the shade during organized team activities at the Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe on May 27, 2026.
Collins is in the final season of the two-year, $14 million extension he signed in August 2024, and his cap number is $6.05 million, per Over the Cap. A trade would leave Arizona with $1.7 million in dead money while the new team pays what remains of a $4.1 million base salary.
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The Cardinals are 1-3, and wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., a player ESPN reported league executives are watching , is the other Cardinal on Locker's list. Baron Browning and Jordan Burch would be left to replace Collins opposite Josh Sweat, and their run-defense grades are 62.9 and 51.0, according to PFF.
The pass rush is what limits the return. Collins has three pressures and one sack on 38 pass-rush snaps and a 63.1 pass-rush grade, per PFF. He has 13 sacks in 88 career games . A buyer would be getting an early-down run defender on an expiring deal, and the pick that comes back to Arizona will be priced for that role.
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Oct 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
