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The Future is Bright Under Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort

After the 2023 NFL Draft, there's no doubting that Arizona Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort was the right man for the job.

Thus far, the Arizona Cardinals have done things the right way. 

Since taking over for Steve Keim, new Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort has received rave reviews for how he's handled his first offseason in charge of a 4-13 football team. 

Despite head coach Jonathan Gannon hating the "rebuild" label, the Cardinals are indeed off to a great start in reshaping their organization:

-Did not re-sign any of their top free agents that cost top dollar.

-Did not bring in any top free agents while spending little money on new players

-Held firm on their asking price for DeAndre Hopkins

-Did not budge on Budda Baker asking to be the highest paid player at his position

- Acquired top draft capital for the future while assembling a class that will produce instant starters

PFF's Trevor Sikkema agrees:

"The Cardinals have yet to play a football game since Ossenfort took over as general manager. But with the significant parts of his first offseason in the books, the future looks to be bright. He navigated the draft in a way where he not only added four potential starters with his first four picks, but he also set his franchise up very well to make a major splash in the 2024 NFL Draft talent pool by adding first- and third-round picks via trades."

After the 2023 NFL Draft concluded, Ossenfort spoke to reporters on what it was like during his first time at the wheel for a franchise:

“I sound like a broken record, but this has been an unbelievable three days for me personally," said Ossenfort. 

"Just to be a part of this team and be a part of this group of individuals in that room. It was great, it was exciting, and it was intense and I can't wait to get the guys out on the field and have it be rewarding. As far as adding the picks, I don't think that's something that we necessarily set out to do. I think it was a product of just how the draft went. 

"I've been a part of drafts where there's been no trades and then like today we had multiple chances to make trades, but today didn't make sense—on Thursday and Friday they made sense and so we did them. Today the chances that we had to move around just really didn't make sense for us according to where our board was. I think I'm always of the mindset that if the opportunity presents itself, we're going do it."

The product he's assembled has yet to hit the field, and we'll need a few years before we can get a good gauge of exactly how things have panned out, but the Cardinals seem to have a bright future under Ossenfort's guidance. 

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