Professional athletes have an incredible ability to tune out the rest of the world. It’s part of why they reach the highest of heights.
On the flip side, it also gives them a distorted sense of reality.
How distorted? Just take former Philadelphia Eagles star edge rusher Josh Sweat and how he took not making the Pro Bowl in his first season with the Arizona Cardinals.
Sweat signed a 4-year, $76.4 million free agent contract with the Cardinals in March after leading the Eagles to the second Super Bowl win in franchise history in February. In 2025, he has a career-high 11.0 sacks this season to go with 12 tackles for loss, 4 forced fumbles and 16 QB hits.
“I’m upset because there’s only two individual things that you can get and it’s Pro Bowl and All-Pro,” Sweat told ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss. “And I got one taken away from me. I’m just flat out saying it was taken away from me — and it ain’t the first time … It’s like I don’t know what else I could have done at that point. I don’t know what else I could have done. Now previous years, maybe you could have said he didn’t have the popularity, maybe he didn’t get the fan vote. This year, I was second in fan voting for NFC. It’s like, what else did they want me to do?”
One thing Sweat fails to mention? The Cardinals are 3-12.
On any level, when it comes to earning postseason honors, consider your chances cut in half on a bad team. When it’s one of the worst teams, up those odds even more.
Sweat Decided to Chase Money, Not Wins
The Eagles made a rare bad personnel move when they chose to sign free agent edge rusher Bryce Huff to a 3-year, $51 million contract before the 2024 season and let Sweat play on a 1-year, $10 million deal.
It backfired. Huff only had 2.5 sacks, missed 5 games due to injuries and didn’t even get put on the active roster for the postseason. He was eventually traded to the San Francisco 49ers in June for a conditional 2026 fifth round pick.
Sweat, on the other hand, turned out to be the true firestarter for the defense, leading the Eagles with 8.0 sacks to go with 15 QB hits and 9 TFL.
In the Super Bowl, he played perhaps the best game of his life, finishing with 6 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 2 TFL and 3 QB hits in a 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in which the Eagles led 34-0 at one point.
Cardinals Likely to Fire Former Eagles Assistant
Sweat, who made his lone Pro Bowl in 2021, played the first 7 seasons of his career with the Eagles before cashing in big with the Cardinals and head coach Jonathan Gannon.
Gannon, a former Eagles defensive coordinator, could very well be fired after going 15-34 over his first 3 seasons.
“Dear Philadelphia Eagles fans, You were right about Jonathan Gannon,” Joanna Cards Fan wrote on X. “You tried to warn us and we didn’t believe you. We believe you now. Our sincerest and humblest apologies, Arizona Cardinals Fans.”
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