The Arizona Cardinals made no big-time moves this year, but that’s not a bad thing when you are a team seeking to replenish its stores through the NFL Draft.
The Arizona Cardinals have made far more good moves than bad this offseason. While many fans will disagree with this sentiment, general manager Monti Ossenfort re-signed serviceable talent, and he added a plethora of depth players who, if the injury bug again strikes the Redbirds, could at least hold their own.
And he’s not done yet, thanks to his eight, and possibly more, draft picks. And with young, solid talent brimming on defense, don’t be surprised if Ossenfort prioritizes that side of the ball early in the draft, allowing Big Red to build a hard-nosed, defense-first mentality this season that hopefully, teams will have a tough time scoring against.
But despite Ossenfort’s good moves, has he made any poor decisions? No general manager is immune to them, so here is one thing Ossenfort could have done better.
Arizona Cardinals general manager neglected quarterback
While I’m a fan of David Blough and I believe he can be a legitimate backup in the NFL, he’s not the greatest fit for a scheme Arizona wants to build around incumbent quarterback Kyler Murray. Of course, this could serve as an unspoken advantage since the Cards would play with a different approach with Blough under center as opposed to Murray if the latter missed time, but it also indicates an additional learning curve for the offense.
Under coordinator Drew Petzing, Arizona will be devising a new scheme, and potentially utilizing two different types of quarterbacks could prove to be counterproductive. That said, Ossenfort should have signed someone like Marcus Mariota, or a quarterback whose playing style better reflects Murray’s.
Now, if Murray misses time, Arizona will roll with a pocket passer early in the year before they ultimately switch to the dual-threat. This could also work in reverse, if, say, Murray starts in Week 1, but is injured again down the road.
As mentioned, using quarterbacks of two different styles may pose an advantage since defenses would be forced to adjust to who’s on the field. But it could also pose an additional headache for offensive personnel forced to adapt to different styles of quarterback play.