The Arizona Cardinals have signed cornerback Fred Bennett, according to an official team announcement. The team waived-injured rookie linebacker Brandon Sharpe (hamstring) to make room on the 80-man roster. The move comes on the same day that cornerback Greg Toler, who is out for the season with a knee injury, was placed on injured reserve.
Bennett has been in the NFL for five seasons and has played for the Houston Texans, San Diego Chargers, and Cincinnati Bengals during that span. He spent his first three seasons In the league (from 2007 to 2009) with the Texans, playing an average of 13.33 games each year and starting just under half of those.
2010 presented some turmoil for Bennett, who spent four games with the Chargers and four games with the Bengals. He recorded only one sack with each of those two teams.
The question with this signing may come down to Bennett's health. He has played fewer games in each of the last three seasons than the year before (dropping from all 16 games in 2008 to 10 games in 2009 and 9 games in 2010). Granted, Bennett did face the turmoil of changing teams last season, but he will have to prove that he can stay healthy in order to become an established member of the cornerback rotation.