Analyst: Cardinals GM Excelling Early in Career

Monti Ossenfort is doing all the right things when building the Arizona Cardinals.

Arizona Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort during an NFL pre-draft press conference at the Cardinals Dignity Health Training Center in Tempe on April 18, 2024. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals are under the second-year guidance of GM Monti Ossenfort as 2024 approaches.

So far, so good.

It's not easy rebuilding any NFL squad that needs the foundation stripped, but Ossenfort and his front office have made good on their promise to do things the right way in the desert.

No Super Bowl parades can be planned just yet. The Cardinals are very much still far away from what they need to be.

Yet the Ossenfort era is off to a strong start, and even the national media recognizes that - especially when it comes to what Arizona's done in the previous two NFL drafts.

"Lots of general managers say they're open for business and willing to trade down for the right price. When push comes to shove on draft day, that isn't always the case. Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort is still at the beginning of his rebuild of Arizona after years of mismanagement, but he has proved to be an executive willing to back up what he has suggested," wrote ESPN's Bill Barnwell.

"During the 2023 draft, Ossenfort traded down three times, most notably in the deal that landed the organization edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. He traded back up for offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr., but those three moves down netted the Cardinals six selections, including a second-round pick in 2023 and a first-round pick in 2024.

"Despite ranking among the league leaders in draft capital heading into April's draft, Ossenfort rightly recognized his team could stand to add more cost-controlled young talent and traded down twice more during draft weekend. He was able to swap a sixth-round pick for a third-rounder by moving down nine spots in the second round, then netted a sixth-round pick for moving down three spots in the third round.

"Trading down for the sake of trading down isn't going to rebuild a franchise, and the most important thing is still drafting valuable players. If Anderson builds off a promising rookie season and becomes a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, the Texans will be happy they moved up. And given that they exceeded expectations and made it to the postseason in C.J. Stroud's rookie year, that 2024 first-rounder that loomed as a potential top-five pick for the Cardinals ended up falling all the way to 27, making the trade less costly.

"At the same time, history tells us the best way to build a team out of mediocrity into a contender is to amass draft capital. It's how Jimmy Johnson built the 1990s Cowboys dynasty and how Bill Belichick built the Patriots into Super Bowl winners over the past 20 years. Tom Brady, quite famously, was a sixth-round compensatory pick. The Cardinals aren't one player away from competing for a Super Bowl, so Ossenfort is rightly playing the percentages and getting extra draft picks to help restock the cupboard."

Ossenfort - in our opinion - has also managed free agency well. He's resisted temptation to swing for the fences and sign a big fish to major money, rather allocating resources to build depth and fill holes.

He's yet to bend over backwards to star players, as names such as Isaiah Simmons, DeAndre Hopkins and Marquise Brown were shown the door.

The Cardinals - at least for now - aren't viewed as a top team. If Ossenfort continues to build on the foundation he's laid, Arizona will only trend upwards.