Are Arizona Cardinals Showing Their Hand?

Are the Cardinals telegraphing their approach this draft season?

Feb 25, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Arizona Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort speaks during the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

It's not much of a secret just what the Arizona Cardinals need from this year's NFL draft. Spoiler alert: it's not much different from the position group they targeted early in free agency.

But some of the experts, and quite a few mock drafts, have talked around the possibility of the Cardinals targeting a DB, or even OL with the 16th overall pick.

Previously, it seemed unrealistic, but merely due to the fact that the Cardinals' DL need was so great, taking any other position seemed irresponsible.

But then they added a pair of top-end players in Josh Sweat and Dalvin Tomlinson to the defensive line. Suddenly, other positions seemed less out of the question.

But the string of recent free agent signings might be indicating something else, for the time being.

Every team makes depth signings, and the Cardinals are not exceptions to that rule. After the initial wave of higher-profile signings took place, Arizona signed a trio of depth players in OL Jake Curhan, CB Jaylon Jones and OL Royce Newman.

Granted, none of these players figure to be starters, or even regular platoon players just yet, but it does seem odd that the Cardinals would continue to add depth to both of those position groups if they intended on making a swing for a player at those positions early in the draft.

Maybe GM Monti Ossenfort is simply gathering bodies, and some of these signings will be cut. Maybe OL Jonah Williams departs via trade or release. But Arizona also re-signed Evan Brown and Kelvin Beachum to provide consistency up front.

In the CB room, it's apparent that HC Jonathan Gannon wants his secondary to be built from the ground up, with players like Garrett Williams, Max Melton, Starling Thomas V and others taking the bulk of the reps.

The Cardinals also looked to add a veteran CB in free agency, and even hosted CB Asante Samuel Jr. for a workout. No deal materialized at the time, but they then signed CB Jaylon Jones as a depth piece.

Granted, the power of BPA is real. If the Cardinals are high on a player like Will Johnson, or any of the various OL options, they'll draft them. But with the way they've approached some of the other needs on the roster (with the exception of WR), it seems like Ossenfort is content to ride with the starters he has, with depth added behind them.

You could argue the DL is a similar situation, but with the exception of the two marquee additions, all the other signings in that unit have been in-house re-signs.

This could all end up becoming white noise if the Cardinals end up cutting some of their depth options or younger players, but that doesn't necessarily feel likely right now.

It does seem like a pretty good bet that the Cardinals will go with a developmental pass rush option at No. 16 overall, or even work a trade and address one of the deeper positions with a later pick.