The Arizona Cardinals made a trade, acquiring defensive lineman Bruce Hector from the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for safety Rudy Ford.
Hector, 24, was an undrafted rookie in 2018 and appeared in eight games for the Eagles, splitting the season between the active roster and the practice squad. He picked up half a sack and three tackles.
Hector (6 feet 2, 296 pounds) played collegiately at South Florida and had 18 career sacks. He is under contract through 2020 for the league minimum.
Ford was a 2017 sixth-round pick out of Auburn and was a core special teams player last season. He was unlikely to make the team this year because of the additions the Cardinals made. They added D.J. Swearinger via waivers, Josh Shaw in free agency, Deionte Thompson in the draft and Jalen Thompson in the supplemental draft.
With the trade, the Cardinals will carry just over $35,000 in dead money both in 2019 and 2020, but that would have been the case had he been released.
The Cardinals needed depth on the defensive line but there is still little experience. They have starters Corey Peters and Rodney Gunter, as well as reserve Terrell McClain, but the rest of the defensive linemen, including Hector, have a combined nine NFL games played. Hector has eight of them.
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