Arizona Cardinals: An honest assessment of Monti Ossenfort's performance in 2023
By Sion Fawkes
In-season moves: A
Since the Arizona Cardinals had their eye on the future, we knew the moves weren’t stopping in the offseason, and Ossenfort showed us he wasn’t afraid to keep overhauling the roster. It started in the preseason when he traded away former first-round pick Isaiah Simmons and third-round pick Josh Jones, as neither gave us hope they could be long-term solutions.
He also traded a fifth-round pick for a stopgap in Joshua Dobbs, before getting a Day 3 pick (likely a sixth-rounder) back in the process when he traded the journeyman to the Minnesota Vikings. Ossenfort also released Steve Keim additions like Zach Ertz and Myjai Sanders during the season, continuing to free the roster from those the previous regime left behind.
Ossenfort brought in potential good fits for the system like defensive tackle Roy Lopez, running back Michael Carter, and even safety K’von Wallace. He released the latter around the time Budda Baker was healthy enough to return, but nevertheless, Wallace still made sound contributions.
Ossenfort also released punter Nolan Cooney and replaced him with Blake Gillikin, who looks like a true successor to Andy Lee. While some of the moves appeared to be puzzling at first, once again, Ossenfort made them with both the present and future in mind, hence the trades for draft picks and his critical scans of the waiver wire.
(Additional information provided by Pro-Football-Reference)