Cardinals Agree to Extension With Center Hjalte Froholdt

In football, most of the attention seems to go to quarterbacks, wide receivers, and running backs.

Meanwhile, the most overlooked part of an offense is the offensive line, especially since they don’t usually get the glory of scoring points or gaining yards.

If they do their job well, protecting the quarterback and opening lanes for running the ball, those players usually receive a majority of the credit.

The center serves as the captain of the group, calling out blocking assignments and operating as the only player on the field who is guaranteed to touch the ball every time they’re on the field. If a team has a good center, they should do what they can to keep them.

It seems the Arizona Cardinals agree.

According to Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com, the Cardinals have officially extended their contract with center Hjalte Froholdt.

After being selected 118th overall by the New England Patriots in the 2019 NFL Draft, Froholdt spent the majority of his career bouncing between practice squads and reserve lists for various teams, including the Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns.

Fortunately, Froholdt found a home with the Cardinals, where he started all 17 games of the 2023 season. Now, he has signed an extension keeping him in Arizona through the 2026 season.

“I am stoked to be able to dig in more roots here and really focus on what I need to do and not worry about the extracurricular stuff,” Froholdt said.

While Froholdt is clearly happy to stay with the Cardinals, he’s not nearly as happy as head coach Jonathan Gannon.

“He is exactly what you want in a Cardinal,” Gannon said. “He has been all-in on maximizing himself as a player and he’s been all-in with how I want our guys to operate on a day-to-day basis.”

Froholdt’s teammates were also happy to have the Danish center return to the team, offering congratulations when they heard the news this past Wednesday.

“It was awesome,” Froholdt said. “It was very genuine, it seemed like. It was good. I don’t like all the attention, so I tried to tell them, ‘Chill, chill, chill, chill, chill.'”

Last year, the Cardinals finished with a dismal 4-13 record, putting them last in the NFC West and giving them a three-way tie for the second-worst record in the NFL, ahead of the Carolina Panthers and tied with the Washington Commanders and Patriots.

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