Cardinals 'Open For Business' in NFL Draft
ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals are open for business.
That's been the sentiment since general manager Monti Ossenfort took over the club last offseason. Heading into year two of a rebuild, the Cardinals' front office leader has done mostly well in his efforts - which was spring boarded by a draft night trade with the Houston Texans in 2023 that netted them major draft capital for next month's 2024 NFL Draft.
The Cardinals are off to a great start but are far from where they want to be, leaving them again as candidates for a team to trade with as more roster spots can be filled and flexibility in all avenues can be added moving forward.
The No. 4 overall pick didn't fetch much action earlier when Ossenfort met with reporters at the NFL Combine weeks ago.
Now, there's a little more buzz.
"Yeah, a little bit more action," said Ossenfort with a grin when asked if conversations surrounding their top pick had increased.
"So I'd say those phone calls are starting to pick up a little bit. I would say they'll probably continue into next week when we go down to Florida for the owners meetings. I think most teams are in a similar spot to us and starting to finalize their boards, and the Pro Day piece is kind of the final on-field piece with evaluation purposes. I would imagine some of those conversations will continue to pick up but honestly they probably will not get real serious until we get right up until the week of the draft, similar to last year.
"They have definitely picked up but I would expect that to continue here for the next month."
Arizona's fan base is seemingly divided on what the Cardinals should do when they're on the clock. Many believe a candidate such as Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr. simply can't be passed on while others believe the organization could capitalize greatly on a quarterback-needy team looking to move up.
Heading into last year's festivities, the Cardinals had much of the framework established with Houston before the deal was made official - seeing Arizona drop outside of the top ten but affording them strong capital (including this year's first-round pick) as a result.
Some believe Ossenfort could again be in cahoots - this time with the Minnesota Vikings - who recently acquired another first-round pick and are widely expected to pursue a trade into the top five.
"I would say there is a considerable amount of it that is laid beforehand," Ossenfort described when asked how deals are worked out in regards to trading picks.
"But with everything, it kind of has to wait to see, there's only so far that it can go because, again, every mock draft out there has everything all figured out what's going to happen - and quite honestly, I don't believe much of any it. We pick at four, that means we don't know what's going to happen at one, two and three.
"I think people have conversations, 'hey, if this happens, or if so and so is available here, then maybe we can talk and it would look something like this' but ultimately there's still a lot of unknown and really there will be until we're on the clock."
Like it or not, the Cardinals are open for business when it comes to their draft picks - even if it requires some extra eye candy.
"There'll be a big neon sign that says open - I don't like it blinking, that kind of messes with my eyes," Ossenfort joked.
"But yeah, we're always going to be listening. We'll always have the conversation - we may not get to a point where the deal makes sense, whether it's at four or anywhere we're picking, but we're always going to have the conversation. If it makes sense and if it's attractive to building our team, then it's something that we'll certainly consider no matter where we're at in the draft."
