Every season, there are games on the NFL schedule that are reunion or revenge games. Teams let players go in free agency or cut them.
This year is no exception. The Arizona Cardinals have let players go or cut them who will face them this season.
Of their 17 games, there are four revenge/reunion games, where a player is facing a previous team for the first time since their departure, or in reuniting with a player or coach for the first time.
Below are those such games for the Cardinals.
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Reunion game: Kliff Kingsbury and Patrick Mahomes
The Cardinals last played the Chiefs in 2018. That was the year before the Cardinals hired Kingsbury as their head coach.
Kingsbury, of course, was Mahomes’ college coach at Texas Tech. Kingsbury is a big fan of Mahomes still. It will be the first time they are on a football field together since their Texas Tech days.
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Revenge game: Chandler Jones
Jones spent six seasons with the Cardinals and became the all-time franchise leader in sacks. However, they did not offer him a contract extension last year, he requested a trade and left in free agency.
He will be eager to show the Cardinals what they are missing.
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Revenge game: Tyrann Mathieu
Mathieu recently signed with his hometown Saints. He was drafted by the Cardinals and played five seasons for them. He was released after 2017 and., after a year with the Texans and three with the Chiefs, this will be his first regular-season game against the team that drafted him.
He still has hard feelings toward the organization for being cut.
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Revenge game: Jordan Hicks, Jeff Gladney, Nick Vigil
The Cardinals cut Hicks in the offseason. This came after he was told he would be replaced by Zaven Collins in the starting lineup when Collins was drafted in the first round. He requested a trade and won back the starting job. He signed with the Vikings after the Cardinals cut him.
Gladney is a new Cardinal. He was a first-round pick of the Vikings in 2020 but was cut last year when he was arrested on assault charges.
For Vigil, who played for Minnesota for one season, it is probably more of a reunion than a revenge game.
