Arizona Cardinals ignore center position during early rounds of draft

The Arizona Cardinals front office seems to be in no hurry to find a starting center for the offensive line.

The first two days of the 2023 NFL Draft had come and gone, and the general consensus was that Monti Ossenfort had done a bang-up job for Arizona Cardinals. The first-year general manager acquired talented prospects, and had walked away with additional draft ammunition for next year as well.

In spite of all of the positives, there's one area of the team that Ossenfort has chosen to completely ignore. At the moment, unheralded free-agent addition Hjalte Froholdt would appear to be the Cards' starting center. With that being the case, why in the world would Ossenfort pass on a golden opportunity to upgrade at what is arguably the offensive line's most-important position?

With the 33rd-overall selection in round 2, Arizona took a pass on four of the draft's most accomplished centers. LSU edge-rusher BJ Ojulari turned out to be the choice, despite the fact that Steve Avila, Joe Tippman, John Michael Schmitz and Juice Scruggs were all there for the taking. No disrespect to Ojulari, but any one of those four blockers would have filled what is undoubtedly a more pressing need for the Redbirds.

Arizona Cardinals front office still has an opportunity to land a bona fide starting center

Luckily for the Cardinals, there's still hope. Luke Wypler, first-round draft pick Paris Johnson Jr.'s teammate at Ohio State, is still on the board. Ossenfort needs to make a sincere effort to insure that the highly-touted 6 foot 3, 300 pounder is obtained by the franchise on the draft's third day.

The Cards found their way into this particular predicament when a knee injury sidelined starter Rodney Hudson for the final 13 matchups of the 2022 campaign. Free agents like Bradley Bozeman and Garrett Bradbury would have solved the problem, but the club passed on both. It should be noted that Ben Jones, a veteran from the Tennessee Titans who Ossenfort is familiar with, is still searching for employment.

There's still a chance that Ossenfort will settle down the fanbase by selecting Wypler on Saturday. Maybe Jones will be the contingency plan if that doesn't happen. One thing's for certain, Arizona will need to add a reinforcement at center as soon as possible.