BYU football: Former linebacker Alani Fua waived by Cardinals

Former BYU football linebacker and two-year NFL veteran Alani Fua has been waived by the Arizona Cardinals.

Alani Fua signed with the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent in 2015 after his BYU football career was over.

Now, after two seasons with the Cardinals, Fua has been waived.

The news came just four days after he re-aggravated a knee injury he sustained last year. CBS Sports was reporting Fua would miss the next two to four weeks – basically the remainder of training camp.

Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians told the media at the beginning of camp that Fua was working both at inside and outside linebacker. While he was still towards the bottom of the depth chart, it was expected that Fua would (at least) have a role on the Cardinals’ special teams unit.

Over the course of the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Fua played in 19 games. He posted just eight total tackles.

The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Fua played in 44 games with BYU football from 2010-14. He finished with 124 total tackles, 14.5 TFLs, nine sacks, five interceptions and a forced fumble.

In BYU football’s 2013 win over Georgia Tech, Fua picked off a pass and returned it 51 yards for a score.

Sports Illustrated named Fua one of the top 2015 NFL Draft prospects from smaller conferences. SI praised Fua’s high motor and play making abilities.

The first step for Fua will be getting healthy. He’ll need to make sure his knees and legs are feeling right. But after that, there’s no reason to think he won’t land on another roster. Even if that ends up being in a practice squad role.

Fua is still a good athlete – and a versatile player. NFL scouts are always looking for players like that.