The Arizona Cardinals are locking in one of the most dependable pieces of their offense.
According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, the team has agreed to a two-year contract extension with starting center Hjalte Froholdt worth $20 million. The deal keeps him in Arizona through the 2028 season and rewards a player who has become a steady anchor up front.
Froholdt has started all 51 games he has played in the desert, giving the Cardinals exactly what teams want from a center: availability, consistency, and solid play. He was heading toward free agency after the season, but now he’ll stick around and provide some continuity for an offensive line that also includes Paris Johnson Jr. and Isaac Seumalo under contract through 2027.
For Froholdt, the extension is a clear pay raise and a sign that the organization values the work he has done, even if he hasn’t drawn much national attention.
“Personally you always got to get your own mindset ready for all the physical things going to happen. It's also a little bit of mental.
There's all the stuff like okay, how am I doing? How's practice going?
Am I the same as I am last year? What are we doing?
Yada yada. But I think one thing I've just learned is just stick to the simple things,” Froholdt said at the beginning of training camp.
He also made clear how much he values being back in Arizona.
“So I'm back. I'm playing the game that I love.
I get to share cool experiences with a lot of a lot of pretty awesome people, and I get to play as a Cardinal. So I'm pretty stoked about that.
So yeah,it feels really good.”
Froholdt has also been impressed by first-year head coach Mike LaFleur, whose offensive background has stood out to the veteran center.
“I think it's fun having LaFleur out there. He's kind of like a crazy offensive coordinator mentality, like he goes in, stops everything, and just starts teaching. It's so fun to have that,” Froholdt said.
“He's a head coach, but an offensive-minded head coach coming in and he loves these teaching moments. Yeah, we might get a break, or well, we're not going to get all the reps in, or whatever. But he's in it, because then everybody listens, and I think it's awesome to understand that.
“Like a receiver needs to understand why we're blocking certain ways. Not that I necessarily know routes, but I need to understand what type - like is it a deeper throw concept, or what's entailed in the protections?
We're really all encompassing. So that's been really fun so far.”
After years of being one of the quieter constants in the Cardinals’ lineup, Froholdt finally has the kind of reward that matches the value he’s brought to the offense.
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The Cardinals took another step toward stabilizing the middle of their offensive line by locking up Hjalte Froholdt on a two-year extension that keeps him under contract through 2028. Since arriving in Arizona in 2023, Froholdt has been exactly what teams want from a center: dependable, durable and available every week, starting all 51 regular season games across his first three seasons with the club.
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