Cardinals Make Surprise Trade for Jaguars TE After Trey McBride's Back-to-Back NFL Pro Bowls

The Jacksonville Jaguars reportedly made a trade ahead of Sunday's 6 p.m. ET roster cut deadline.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported the Jaguars sent tight end Hunter Long to the Arizona Cardinals.

The 28-year-old, who entered the league as a third-round pick in 2021, figures to provide depth behind back-to-back Pro Bowler Trey McBride.

McBride is one of the best tight ends in the league and figures to draw the majority of the attention from opposing defenses. Perhaps that could open Long up in two-tight-end sets to become more productive after he was not much of a contributor during his first five seasons.

The Boston College product has bounced around from the Miami Dolphins to the Los Angeles Rams to the Jaguars and had just eight total catches in his first four years in the league.

However, the 2025 season in Jacksonville was his most productive, as he tallied 12 catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns.

Despite that slight uptick in production, there likely wasn't a significant role waiting for him with the Jaguars in 2026. Brenton Strange is the starter, and the AFC South team selected both Nate Boerkircher and Tanner Koziol in the 2026 NFL draft.

Jacksonville surely wants to see what it has in the rookies and moved on from Long.

Yet it was able to find a trade partner in the Cardinals, which means it got something back in return instead of just releasing Long ahead of the roster cut deadline.