The Arizona Cardinals might’ve just won the NFL offseason — and not with a free agent signing or blockbuster trade, but with bars.
On Wednesday night, they dropped their 2025 schedule in the most unexpected way: linebacker Mack Wilson straight-up rapped it into existence. Yep, the former Alabama standout turned part-time rapper dropped “18 Bars,” a full track announcing the games and hyping up the fans. And spoiler: it actually slaps.
Wilson — aka “Rocketship” (more on that in a sec) — said the idea came from the team’s media crew. They hit him up and asked if he’d be down to turn the schedule into a song. At first, he wasn’t sure what he’d signed up for, but soon found himself diving headfirst into studio time. The track dropped on Apple Music and Spotify, and it’s already got NFL fans buzzing.
How’d they even know Wilson had rap skills? Turns out, he and a couple teammates (shoutout Jesse Luketa and Zach Paschal) had been making locker room bangers under the name “Third-and-Go.” After games last season, they’d hop in the booth, crank out tracks, and slowly built a bit of a following inside the locker room — and now, way beyond it.
And about that “Rocketship” nickname? Wilson came up with it after joining the Cardinals as a free agent last year, feeling like it was finally time for his career to lift off. His teammates roasted him at first, but now? Everyone’s calling him that.
On the football side, Wilson is fired up. The Cards went 8-9 last year, but he’s feeling good about the team’s offseason moves. With a stacked NFC West that now includes Sam Darnold in Seattle and Davante Adams on the Rams, Wilson thinks Arizona’s right there in the mix.
“I feel like we got some ballers,” he said. “And we’re gonna try our best to be one of those top teams.”
If nothing else, they’re already No. 1 in schedule drops.
