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Cardinals re-sign DL L.J. Collier after season-ending injury in 2023

Originally posted on Burn City Sports | By Alec Cipollini | Last updated 3/8/24

Even though he played just one game into his debut season for the Arizona Cardinals, defensive lineman L.J. Collier will return and run it back.

Arizona announced that Collier signed a one-year contract to remain with the team in the Valley.

Staying in The Valley

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) March 8, 2024

Originally, Collier spent four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks after being a first-round (29th overall) pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. For Seattle, the Texas native played 45 games (16 starts), had three sacks, 40 tackles and five passes defended.

Collier would then sign a one-year deal with another NFC West team in Arizona last offseason.

But just as the 28-year-old was gearing up to help the Cardinals in 2023, he injured a biceps muscle in a season-opening 20-16 loss to the Washington Commanders. Collier recorded two tackles and started in the defeat.

Locking up Collier for 2024, the defensive line is still set to have a trio of free agents as Carlos Watkins, Leki Fotu and Jonathan Ledbetter are all out of contract. Like Collier, Watkins also suffered a similar injury to a bicep, ruling him out for the rest of last season later on.

With NFL Free Agency beginning on March 13, Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort will have plenty of work to do with the entire roster as a whole.