Cardinals Must Answer This Offseason Question

The Arizona Cardinals are at a crossroad in their rebuild process. When stripping a team down to its bones, one can afford a year or two of missed playoffs, some poor performances and general disappointment - but Arizona must face this question going forward.

The Cardinals have yet to make a signing or trade for a genuine, impact player during this regime. That's understandable, considering the complete and utter teardown that had to occur in year one of the rebuild.

But as Arizona creeps ever closer to playoff contention, they won't be able to do it without some top-tier talent.

Is Ossenfort (and the rest of the front office) capable of luring top-end talent to the desert?

Why Cardinals Must Pull Trigger on Elite Talent This Offseason

It's not necessarily a question as a result of Arizona missing out on marquee free agents, but rather an uncertainty that derives from a muscle that has yet to be flexed.

It was clear in 2023 that the Cardinals were more inclined to part with talented players than sign them. In 2024, the strategy was all about raising the floor of play, adding depth, and bringing in developmental talent through the draft.

Regardless of whether or not these free agents were successful (and some weren't), those types of moves are, intentionally or not, a plea for fans to trust the process, rather than giving them something to get riled up over.

Names like Justin Jones, Bilal Nichols, Sean Murphy-Bunting and Mack Wilson Sr. headlined 2024's free agent acquisitions, to varying levels of success.

Marvin Harrison Jr. and Darius Robinson were added in the first round of the draft to be impact players, though neither truly played up to the expectations laid on them as rookies.

So now, caught up in the swirling rumors of free agency, Ossenfort has his work cut out for him. Can he bring a top-end talent to the desert? Is there enough in place to lure players looking to compete for playoff victories and Super Bowls to the Cardinals?

Ossenfort has already shown he's willing to open the checkbook, but there's a line between overpaying to raise the floor of a group and dumping ill-advised salary into aging stars, a method all too familiar to Cardinals fans from the prior regime.

But so far, Ossenfort hasn't had to make a huge splash move. That's not to say he should go all-in on the first star that enters free agency, but Cardinals fans have already ceded two seasons of losing to trust in the process.

Now, the process has to deliver results, and adding a star is the extra mile Arizona needs. While Ossenfort has arguably done enough to justify confidence in the third-year GM, he needs to assert himself as an executive capable of pulling the best of the best.

A trade for Maxx Crosby or Myles Garrett, or even a free agent signing like Josh Sweat or Milton Williams (albeit not superstar-level players) would do wonders to instill faith in this fanbase, while helping prove that this rebuild isn't a never-ending slate of middling talent and unproven rookies.

So while there's plenty of time to make a smart, well-fitting move to raise the level of this team's play, the patience clock is already ticking down, and Arizona cannot sit and watch elite talent sign elsewhere without putting up a fight.