Arizona Cardinals

Cardinals add 2 more veterans in LB Dansby, K Dawson

Published Mar. 10, 2017 5:24 p.m. ET

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The Cardinals added two more over-30 veterans to their roster Friday, agreeing to a one-year contract with linebacker Karlos Dansby and a two-year deal with kicker Phil Dawson.

Dansby, 35, is a 14-year veteran who is returning for his third tour of duty with the Cardinals.

Dawson, 42, is an 18-year veteran who ranks 10th in NFL history and third among active players for most career field goals (404).

They are the third and fourth free agents to sign with the Cardinals this week -- along with 32-year-old safety Antoine Bethea and 30-year-old center A.Q. Shipley, who played with Arizona the previous two seasons.

Their signings were announced the same day that the Cardinals signed outside linebacker Chandler Jones to a five-year extension.

Dansby (6-feet-4, 250 pounds) was originally drafted by the Cardinals in the second round in 2004. He played for them for six seasons, left as a free agent, and returned for one season in 2013. In between his stints in Arizona, he played for Miami (2010-12), Cleveland (2014-15) and Cincinnati (2016). With the Bengals last year, he had a team-leading 114 tackles.

Dansby was a second-team all-pro for the Cardinals in 2013, starting all 16 games and recording a career-best 136 tackles to go with 6.5 sacks and four interceptions. With 42 career sacks and 19 interceptions, he needs one more interception to join Ray Lewis, Wilber Marshall, Seth Joyner and Brian Urlacher as the only players in NFL history with at least 40 sacks and 20 interceptions.

"I've got a lot left, man," Dansby said. "I been blessed. I can't lie. God's been showing me tremendous favor, showing me tremendous favor bringing me back here."

Dawson will take over place-kicking duties from Chandler Catanzaro, who suffered through an inconsistent 2016 season. He has a career field-goal percentage of 84.5. With the San Francisco 49ers over the past four seasons, he has made 99 of 115 field-goal attempts (86.1 percent). He spent his first 14 seasons with Cleveland.

"This is a destination that's always been attractive to me," Dawson said.

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