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Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff Writer
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Arizona Cardinals gave linebacker Zaven Collins a two-year extension Saturday, keeping him with the team through the 2026 season, the team announced.
The two-year extension is worth $14 million, including $11.25 million in guarantees, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Coach Jonathan Gannon said extending Collins was “absolutely” a big win for the organization.
“He’s a big part of what we want to do on defense this year, moving forward,” Gannon said.
General manager Monti Ossenfort has been working on Collins’ extension for a while, according to Gannon.
“I’m glad we got it done now,” Gannon added. “I’m happy that he is here. He is gonna be a big part of the defense.”
Collins was Arizona’s first-round pick in 2021 but didn’t have his fifth-year option picked up. Instead, the Cardinals gave him an extension.
In three seasons, Collins has 5.5 sacks, 166 tackles and two interceptions. He played inside linebacker his first two seasons with the Cardinals and then made the transition to outside linebacker last season.
“He does a lot for us,” Gannon said. “He’s got a lot of versatility. He is a playmaker, he is smart. He’s a team-first guy. He’s all about the team. And he works on his game every day.”
In Collins’ first season at outside linebacker, he played in all 17 games and had one pick, recovered one fumble and had 41 tackles, including six for loss. He also had six quarterback hits and 3.5 sacks.
Earlier in camp, Ossenfort said extensions would be handled on case-by-case basis.
“I think we got some newer ways this year [to use Collins] that we sat down in the offseason, said, ‘Hey, can we do some of these things?'” Gannon said. “It’s kind of a little bit of trial by error right now, but he’s doing a good job with it.”