2024 Arizona Cardinals roster preview: Austrian TE Bernhard Seikovits

USA Today | American Football | 07/17/2024

Arizona Cardinals tight end Bernhard Seikovits (80) during training camp at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Aug. 16, 2022. © Cards Wire

By Jess Root

The Arizona Cardinals will open training camp July 23 and begin the process of preparing for the regular season, forming the roster and determining starting jobs and roles on the team.

Leading up to the start of camp, we will take a look at every player on the offseason roster, their background, their contract, their play in 2023, questions they face and their roster outlook.

Next up is tight end Bernhard Seikovits.

Background

Seikovits is with the Cardinals for his fourth season but is still considered a first-year player because he has spent the last three seasons on the practice squad.

The Cardinals were awarded him as part of the International Pathways Program three years ago, giving him an exemption for him on the offseason roster and an exemption to be on the practice squad. He played for the Austrian national team and was a captain. He previously won two European Championships as a quarterback for the U19 national team. Seikovits played youth football for the Vienna Vikings until he was selected for the Austrian U19 national team as the age of 16.

2023 stats

Seikovits was on the practice squad all last season. He did not have any stats.

2024 contract details, cap hit

Seikovits is under contract for 2024 only and is set to make the league minimum for a first-year player. He will make $795,000 and that will be his cap hit.

Questions he faces

Now in his fourth season with the team, the biggest question is whether he can make the 53-man roster or not. The Cardinals could use the international exemption to put him as the 17th player on the practice squad but that makes him ineligible to be promoted to the active roster. Can he show enough progress to make it as the team’s fourth tight end on the roster?

2024 roster outlook

Seikovits is somewhere between a longshot and a bubble player. The Cardinals likely will keep four tight ends on the 53-man roster but there is not a clear favorite for the fourth spot between him, Blake Whiteheart and Travis Vokelek. The coaching staff loves him so he has a shot, but the more likely scenario is that, if there is any question, he will use the international exemption again.

Read original USA Today Touchdown Wire article.