Top 4 Arizona Cardinals who may not be sticking around in 2023
By Jim Koch
The Arizona Cardinals could ultimately move on from a handful of players who the new regime doesn't have ties to.
In case anyone hasn't noticed, the winds of change are rolling in for the Arizona Cardinals. Owner Michael Bidwill wanted things done differently, so Monti Ossenfort and Jonathan Gannon were brought in to carry out his vision. Can a brand-new general manager and head coach succeed in cleaning up the mess that was left behind by Steve Keim and Kliff Kingsbury?
Faced with the challenge of revitalizing the Cards, it comes as no surprise that Ossenfort and Gannon would want to bring in their own players. A familiarity with the people you work with could be beneficial, especially in the National Football League. What that means for several veterans who came to the organization during the Keim-Kingsbury era remains to be seen.
Some major house cleaning could be on the way for the Cardinals over the next several months. Ossenfort and Gannon have their own way of doing things, and not every individual on the current roster will fit in with the new plan. The following are four holdovers from the previous regime who may not remain with the squad in 2023.
Leki Fotu - Defensive tackle
For the past three seasons, Arizona defensive tackle Leki Fotu has garnered a decent amount of playing time. Last fall, the 6 foot 5, 330 pounder appeared in all 17 matchups, and was credited with nine starts. Unfortunately, the production that the Redbirds have been hoping for out of the 24-year-old Fotu just hasn't been there.
Fotu totaled 31 tackles and zero sacks for the Cards defense in 2022. On a larger scale, the former University of Utah product has tallied just 61 tackles and one sack in 45 total appearances (12 starts) for "Big Red". It would be fair to guess that the club was expecting a bit more out of Fotu when they used a fourth-round draft choice on him back in 2020.
All indications are that Fotu is likely to be nothing more than a backup for the remainder of his career. That being the case, would Ossenfort fill a need to hang onto a second-string nose tackle who was drafted by his predecessor? There's fairly good possibility that Fotu could be playing elsewhere next fall.