TEMPE, Ariz. -- All Josh Sweat needed was an opportunity.
Sweat knew before signing with the Cardinals in March that if he had the chance to rush the passer from either side of the defensive line that he wouldn't just make the most of it, he'd flourish.
And that's exactly what has happened in his first season in Arizona.
Heading into Week 12 against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Sweat is ranked sixth in the NFL with nine sacks and first with three strip-sacks. With seven games left, Sweat is just two sacks short of his career high.
"He's been phenomenal this year," Cardinals veteran defensive lineman Calais Campbell said. "I think he's having a year that I think doesn't get appreciated because of our [3-7] record. But if we had been in a situation where we're one of the top teams in football right now, I mean, he'd be talked about a lot more often.
"He's having a monster year. It's so much harder to do when your team's not winning ballgames."
Sweat's three best sack seasons -- 2021 (7.5), 2022 (11) and 2025 (nine and counting) -- have been with Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis. Gannon was the defensive coordinator, and Rallis was the linebackers coach in 2021 and 2022 in Philadelphia.
Neither Gannon nor Rallis believes he is the reason behind Sweat having big seasons while being coached by the duo, but Sweat disagrees.
"They trust me to just get stuff done," he said. "I think that's the biggest thing. I mean, they let me move around a little bit and winning within what they want to call and stuff like that."
Through the 10 games he has been reunited with Gannon and Rallis in their new roles, Sweat has been given the green light.
This season, he has lined up on the left side on 54% of his edge snaps and on the right on 46% of his edge snaps -- drastic differences from his time in Philadelphia. Over his past three seasons, he lined up on the right side 88% of his snaps -- and when broken down year over year for the past three, his rates don't change.
Sweat has 171 snaps this year on the left edge. He had 219 snaps on the left side combined during his past three seasons with the Eagles.
And it wasn't for a lack of trying.
Sweat said he asked to move around but wasn't given the go-ahead.
"I want to say it's complicated, but it really isn't," he told ESPN.
He added: "As you could imagine, playing one side the entire football season is like, 'What the f---?'" Sweat said. "But, yeah, it's just like, it's ass."
It didn't just get tiresome playing on one side of the Eagles' defense, it was predictive. Offensive linemen knew they could slide to Sweat's side and chip him regularly because he wasn't going anywhere.
"You never saw a different look," Sweat said. "It was just like, 'Hey, do what you do. Try to make something happen.' It was so much easier to get taken out of a game. So, after that, it was like, get what you can get."
When Sweat was looking for a new team this past offseason, money was one priority, but being somewhere he could make plays was equally important.
During Sweat's first meeting with Gannon in Arizona, the two were already on the same page.
"They were just like, 'We already know. We already know. Don't worry about it, we'll take care of it,'" Sweat said. "And I just trust them and, I mean, it's working out.
"I feel actually alive during the game."
Sweat's trust in Gannon and Rallis has paid off.
"He's got tools to use when he is on the right, when he's on the left, he's comfortable," Gannon said. "The first thing a lot of guys that don't like to do that is they're not comfortable in a different stance. He's comfortable in both stances. He's comfortable with where his edge arm is going to be, I would say, his post arm, where that is and then what moves to apply.
"It starts with, though, like, get off and approach and your angle and then a point of combat, what's going on and then how do you finish, and Sweaty is a high producer."
What has made Sweat's season all the more impressive is his efficiency in bringing down quarterbacks.
With the Cardinals sitting at 3-7, they've trailed significantly more than they've led, which allows opposing offenses to sit back and run the ball, especially in the second half when they're trying to bleed out the clock. That's not an ideal situation for a pass rusher who thrives on dropbacks.
Among the seven players who have nine or more sacks, Sweat has the fewest pass-rush snaps and the fewest overall snaps -- and it's not close. He has 81 fewer pass-rush snaps than Houston's Danielle Hunter, who leads the group of players with nine or more sacks with 291.
Campbell likes to joke with Sweat about the production he's enjoying this season. He tells Sweat that he wants to sit next to him because Campbell wants to be "surrounded by greatness." Sweat, as he does a lot, laughs.
But Campbell, the oldest player in Arizona's locker room at 39, knows he needs to keep pushing Sweat because of how quickly Sweat can impact a game.
"It's not an ideal scenario, but for us to get back, have a run, it's going to be on his back, honestly. I tell him all the time, 'We're going to go as far as you take us,'" Campbell said.
"He's just an elite player. And I think when you have a guy who can make those big plays and big moments, it kind of gives you a lot of confidence."