Linebacker Mack Wilson and offensive tackle Jonah Williams are new to the Arizona Cardinals in 2024 after signing with the NFL team as free agents last week. But they aren’t new to each other.

Wilson and Williams were teammates at Alabama in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons. At his Thursday press conference, Williams provided a scouting report on Wilson for the Arizona press.

“He’s a great locker-room guy,” Williams said. “He was kind of one of the leaders and the heartbeats of the Alabama defense. I was telling someone yesterday: Have you seen his hit on the Texas A&M returner? It was a big deal in 2016 when we were both freshmen. He came down on a kick return and just – it was the hit heard around the world. So that was one of my early impressions of him as a player, actually seeing him on the field, and I was like, ‘This guy can play.’

“He’s a missile, so I’m excited to have him here.”

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Wilson feels the same way.

“I was kind of joking on Twitter the other day about not having another Bama guy here,” Wilson said on Friday, “so when (Cardinals general manager) Monti (Ossenfort) went and got Jonah, I was super excited just to have another Bama guy here with me. It’s a dope feeling, honestly, to have a college teammate with you at the next level.”

A two-time All-State selection at Carver-Montgomery, Wilson came aboard from the New England Patriots for a three-year, $12.75 million contract that included a $3.5 million signing bonus and $6.445 million in guaranteed money.

But how the Cardinals plan to use Wilson hasn’t been made clear. Arizona didn’t have a linebacker who played more than 64 percent of its defensive snaps in 2023, and only one team yielded more points than the Cardinals.

“We really haven’t gotten into that too much yet,” Wilson said about his role. “We’ll probably dive into that here in a little bit during OTAs or whatnot. But I’m pretty sure they got something drawn up for me or whatnot, and like I said, I’m here to do whatever I got to do to help this Arizona team be successful. …

“I’m one of those guys who always put the team first. I’m one of those guys who’s always willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win whether that’s me rushing on third down, whether that’s me going in just to play on third down. Obviously, we all want more. I just took advantage of whatever my role was and excelled at it. That’s what I could control, and that’s what I did.”

After being obtained in a trade with the Cleveland Browns, Wilson played 21 percent of the defensive snaps in 2022 and 27 percent in 2023 for New England. He totaled 541 defensive snaps and 596 special-teams plays in the past two seasons.

Wilson has played primarily at inside linebacker during his career. But in the final five games of the 2023 season, Wilson recorded 3.5 sacks while getting more work on the edge, even though he didn’t play more than 23 defensive snaps in any of the contests.

“I just want to be the best version of myself each and every day,” Wilson said. “That’s what I was able to learn those last two years with the Patriots. With not playing as much, I was able to figure out who I was as a person because it could have been easy for me to tuck my tail and, not quit, but, like, just not care either. I feel like me just staying focused, staying dedicated to myself, staying dedicated to the team allowed me to be successful late in the year last year when it was time. …

“I would say last year, I was starting to be myself a little bit. But moving forward, definitely. Here, I feel the sense that I can be myself based off the energy I’m getting from top down, and I’m just blessed and honored to be in this position.”

The Cardinals have won four games in each of the past two seasons, but Wilson has the feeling Arizona is ascending in the NFC West.

“Had a nice flight down yesterday,” Wilson said on Friday. “Was able to kind of just reminisce on my career over the last few years, just to see where I was headed. On that flight yesterday, it was just an unbelievable feeling I had, and I’m just super excited to get to work. …

“We got something special brewing here, I feel like. We’re just going to keep working, keep putting it together one day at a time, and we’re going to see where we end up come February.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.