Should Cardinals Regret Not Spending This Offseason?

The Arizona Cardinals opted to save rather than spend - was it the right move?

Dec 31, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports / Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals are in the second year of their rebuild under the guidance of head coach Jonathan Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort.

2023 was an ugly but much needed start to tearing down the foundation of the previous regime, and while the Cardinals indeed fought hard on a weekly basis, they emerged with just four wins on the schedule.

Big names were moved. Trades were made. Cap space was cleared. A future was set forth by Ossenfort and co. that would see Arizona's path for the future shine much brighter than before the likes of Kliff Kingsbury and Steve Keim departed the organization.

The Cardinals walked into this offseason with plenty of spending power and draft capital to spare. Many believed Arizona would target a big fish free agent to try and accelerate their rebuild while potentially moving up and down in the 2024 NFL Draft with their double-digit picks.

It's July - just weeks out from training camp at State Farm Stadium - and the Cardinals still have ample cap space to play with after a historically large draft class of 12 players.

Entering July, the #AZCardinals have the third-highest cap space in the league at $35.3 million per OTC.

What's something you'd like to see them do before training camp?

— Donnie Druin (@DonnieDruin) July 1, 2024

Most thought the Cardinals did well to not spend this early in the process - but not everybody shared that opinion.

Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon ran through five biggest regrets of the NFL offseason, and he couldn't help but ponder if the Cardinals needed to spend more money.

"The rebuilding Cardinals entered the offseason with nearly $60 million in cap space and very few in-house veterans to take care of. You'd think that if they were serious about maximizing their chances of excelling again in a critical season for quarterback Kyler Murray, they'd load up on talent on both sides of the ball," wrote Gagnon.

"And while they didn't completely sit on their hands, they clearly could have done a lot more. Anyone fired up about Jonah Williams and Evan Brown? Is Justin Jones a difference-maker? What about Sean Murphy-Bunting?

"The Cards didn't hand out a single contract worth $32-plus million, which is how you expect teams to act when they're saving up to pay their quarterback big bucks. But Arizona has already done that, and Murray's enormous cap hit is baked into this season as well as the next four.

"I appreciate that the Cardinals realize they aren't yet Super Bowl contenders and that the turnaround won't happen overnight, but they also owe it to Murray and themselves to load up on enough talent to pave the way for a clear indication of how close he (and they) are to competitiveness.

"I'm not sure they have done that here."

Should The Cardinals Regret Not Spending?

Absolutely not.

Too often do teams/organizations convince themselves they're closer to competing than they actually are.

Props to Ossenfort - operating in a result-oriented business - for not risking temptation and continuing to build the roster through the draft and utilizing free agency to simply plug holes.

Sure, the names Arizona brought in aren't selling tickets. By no means were they sexy.

At the end of the day, however, the Cardinals are sticking to the script - as they should.