A 12-year NFL veteran is apparently set to retire.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports on Sunday that the Arizona Cardinals expect center Rodney Hudson to retire ahead of the 2023 NFL season.
Hudson is a three-time Pro Bowl selection.
“The Arizona Cardinals likely will be in the center market. The team expects Rodney Hudson to retire,” Fowler writes.
Hudson, 33, was selected to the Pro Bowl in the 2016, 2017, and 2019 NFL seasons, all with the Raiders. He was drafted in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft with the Kansas City Chiefs, and he remained with Kansas City through the 2014 season.
On March 17, 2021, Hudson and a seventh-round pick in the 2021 draft were traded by the Raiders to the Cardinals in exchange for a third-round selection in that draft. He was limited to 16 games over two seasons with the Cardinals, including just four games in 2022, due to a knee injury.
The Florida State product agreed to a restructured contract with Arizona in January, lowering his base salary from $8.3 million to $2.1 million for the 2023 season.
So, the Cardinals could look to address center in free agency, or maybe they’ll wait for April to address the position in the 2023 draft. Minnesota’s John Michael Schmitz, Ohio State’s Luke Wypler, Wisconsin’s Joe Tippman, and TCU’s Steve Avila are among options at center that could be selected within the first few rounds of the upcoming draft.
[ESPN]