The Arizona Cardinals are signing former New York Giants return specialist Ihmir Smith-Marsette to a one-year futures deal, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Newark, New Jersey native spent the 2024 season with the Giants on the active roster, and the 2025 season mostly on the practice squad.
Smith-Marsette will now hope to find a home with the Cardinals in 2026, as he enters his sixth season in the NFL.
The former Super Bowl champion has proven to be a legitimate weapon returning kicks and punts, with two return touchdowns throughout his professional career.
Giants’ Homegrown Talent
After his freshman year at Newark’s St. Benedict’s Preparatory School, Smith-Marsette transferred to Weequahic High School, where he would begin his high school football career.
He played wide receiver, defensive back, and was a return specialist at Weequahic, hauling in 38 receptions for 773 yards and 13 touchdowns, recording three interceptions and scoring three touchdowns on punt/kick returns in his senior season.
A three-star recruit, Smith-Marsette would receive offers from in-state Rutgers, Boston College, and Minnesota. He would elect to play for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Throughout his collegiate career, Smith-Marsette would earn first-team All-Big Ten and Big Ten Return Specialist of the Year honors, showcasing his dangerous special teams skills.
Entry Into the NFL
Thanks to his successful career at Iowa, Smith-Marsette would enter the 2021 NFL Draft and was selected in the fifth round, 157th overall, by the Minnesota Vikings.
The former Hawkeye would only appear in eight games in his rookie season, catching five passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns.
His first pro touchdown came in Week 15 in a game against the Chicago Bears, when he caught a seven-yard pass from Kirk Cousins to put the Vikings up 17-3.
When Minnesota traded for Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Jalen Raegor in the 2022 offseason, Smith-Marsette was waived by the Vikings and claimed by the Bears just a week later.
Later that same season, Chicago moved on, and the former fifth-round pick was signed by the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Smith-Marsette never played a snap for Kansas City, but was on the roster when the team won Super Bowl LVII against the Eagles, earning himself a championship ring.
The Chiefs traded him to the Carolina Panthers ahead of the 2023 season and ahead of roster cutdowns, swapping 2025 seventh-round conditional draft picks.
Later that season, Smith-Marsette returned his first punt for a touchdown in the NFL, scoring the Panthers’ first punt return touchdown since 2017 on a 79-yard scamper against the Bears.
Ihmir Smith-Marsette’s Giants Tenure
Just before the start of the 2024 NFL season, Smith-Marsette signed a one-year deal with the New York Giants, marking a return home to the New York-New Jersey area.
He served as the Giants‘ primary punt and kick returner that season, and as some fans may painfully remember, he returned a kick 100 yards for a touchdown in the team’s 45-33 win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 17, running New York’s chances of landing the No. 1 pick in the following April’s draft.
Smith-Marsette spent most of the 2025 season on the Giants’ practice squad, but didn’t appear in a single game.
Now, he heads to the Arizona Cardinals, where he figures to be a key part of their special teams unit for 2026.
Cardinals Sign Former Giants Return Specialist, Super Bowl Champion