Arizona Cardinals

After striking gold with Freeney, Cardinals take shot with Babin

Published Jan. 13, 2016 5:17 p.m. ET

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An injury to linebacker Alex Okafor early in the season led the Arizona Cardinals to sign veteran Dwight Freeney off the street.

That turned out to be a pretty astute move for both the Cardinals and Freeney, who leads the team in sacks with seven, including three against the Green Bay Packers - Saturday night's opponent in the NFC Divisional Round.

Now, with Okafor done for the season with a toe injury sustained during the bye week, Arizona is hoping it can unearth another gem following Tuesday's signing of veteran linebacker Jason Babin, a first-round pick of the Houston Texans back in 2004. 

The 35-year-old Babin appeared in two games with the Baltimore Ravens this season and registered a pair of sacks with the New York Jets in 2014, raising his career total to 64 1/2. Freeney has excelled as a situational pass rusher and the Cardinals could be hoping for much of the same from Babin.

“Coach did mention I’d have a role,” Babin told the team's official website. “It may be a loose definition. What is a role, I don’t know. I’m just here to work, and happy to be playing football. I’ve played in a defense where the verbiage was pretty similar. Hopefully it will be a pretty smooth transition.”

Babin had his best season with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011, amassing 18 sacks. He started all 16 games with Jacksonville as recently as 2013 and notched 7 1/2 sacks.

"If they didn’t think I could whip the man across from me, they wouldn't have signed me,” Babin said.

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