The Arizona Cardinals‘ 2026 season is quickly becoming forgettable. But Trey McBride keeps giving fans reasons to tune in.
It seems like every week, McBride is reaching a new milestone. Whether he’s on pace to shatter his own record or venturing toward career totals the franchise has never seen, fans will remember McBride as one of the few bright spots surrounding an otherwise awful football team.
That trend continued in Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions, when McBride set a new record for most receptions by a tight end in a single season. Per Fox Sports, “With 388 career receptions (eight today), Trey McBride has officially passed Jimmy Graham (386) for the most receptions by a tight end in his first five NFL seasons in NFL history.”
That wasn’t all. Fox Sports went on to say, “McBride is now the first tight end in NFL history with at least seven receptions in each of his team’s first five games of a season.”
Trey McBride Added To An Already-Stellar Resume On Sunday
McBride’s official stats on NFL.com list him with 389 receptions, one more than Fox Sports reported. Divide 389 by 71 career games, and McBride has 5.47 receptions per game in his NFL career. With 42 catches this season, he is on a 17-game pace to snag 143 receptions, so he’s still well on track to break his own single-season receptions record of 126.
While it’s still too early in his career to crown McBride as an all-time NFL great, it’s never too early to speculate. McBride has 12 more games to pull away from Graham. If he continues at that same 17-game pace and notches 143 catches, he will have 490 receptions when the Cardinals wrap up the season.
What’s more amazing about what McBride is doing? This is coming during one of the worst seasons the Cardinals have been going through since moving to the desert. Opponents have blown out the Cardinals at State Farm Stadium, and the defense has put up historically bad numbers.
Still, McBride continually exceeds expectations each week. That’s tough for even the best players to do amidst a dismal season for their team.
McBride’s Impact For The Cardinals’ Offense
Besides his 42 catches, McBride has 308 receiving yards and three touchdowns. As a unit, the Cardinals’ passing offense ranks 17th in the league with 1,048 yards. McBride has accounted for 29.4 percent of Arizona’s total passing yards and one-third of all touchdown receptions.
Still, Arizona’s poor performance offensively has affected McBride. Per Pro-Football-Reference, his success rate is just 57.1. That’s McBride’s lowest since his rookie season. His 7.3 yards per catch is also his lowest since his rookie year, when he clocked in at 9.1. Finally, his 61.6 receiving yards per game is 10 yards lower than what he finished with in 2024 (71.6) and 2025 (72.9).
While McBride’s numbers could be even better if the Cardinals offense figures things out, he’s still made a significant impact and has kept them from falling into one of the league’s worst units.
That said, McBride’s performance not only in 2026, but throughout his career, has been extraordinary, considering how bad the Arizona Cardinals have been since he first entered the league.
Trey McBride Reached A Historic NFL Mark Amid Cardinals’ Struggles