Eagles, Cardinals Trade NFL Draft Picks to Settle Jonathan Gannon Tampering Case

The Arizona Cardinals have settled a tampering case regarding the hiring of head coach Jonathan Gannon.

The Cardinals swapped the No. 66 pick in the 2023 draft for the Philadelphia Eagles' No. 94 pick and a 2024 fifth-round selection, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort broke the NFL's anti-tampering policy by calling Gannon, then defensive coordinator for the Eagles, in the days following Philadelphia's NFC championship win on January 29, the teams said in a statement. Arizona self-reported the incident.

The draft pick swap resolves the matter between the Eagles and Cardinals, the clubs said.

NFL rules state that "no initial interviews may be requested nor granted after the divisional playoff weekend for any assistant coach whose team is still participating in the postseason," with some exceptions if there is at least a two-week break between the conference championship and the Super Bowl. In 2023, there were 13 days in that gap for the Eagles.

The Cardinals signed Gannon to a five-year contract to be their head coach February 14.

Gannon served as the Eagles' defensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022. Under his direction, Philadelphia's defense recorded a historic 2022 season that helped lead the Eagles to an appearance in Super Bowl LVII.

Under Gannon, the defensive line was the first in league history to have four players with 10-plus sacks (Javon Hargrave, Haason Reddick, Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat), and the team's 78 total sacks ranked third all-time (trailing only the 1984 and 1985 Chicago Bears).

The Eagles held opponents to just 179.8 passing yards per contest (first in the NFL) and 301.5 total yards per game (second).

Compare those numbers to those of the Cardinals, who had 36 total sacks (23rd in the NFL) and averaged 230.3 passing yards against (24th), and it's clear why Ossenfort was eager to speak with Gannon following former head coach Kliff Kingsbury's firing on January 9.