Analyst Highlights Cardinals' Biggest Offseason Gamble

The Arizona Cardinals are swinging for the fences when it comes to their youth movement.

Arizona Cardinals linebacker Kyzir White (7) high-fives linebacker Owen Pappoe (44) during organized team activities in Tempe on May 20, 2024. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY

ARIZONA -- The second year of the Arizona Cardinals' rebuild is well underway with mandatory minicamp approaching this coming week.

Massive roster-building events such as free agency frenzy and the NFL Draft have come and gone, and while the Cardinals again injected their team with youthful faces, some analysts believe Arizona could have leaned on more of a veteran approach entering 2024.

From Sports Illustrated's Matt Verderame:

"While the Cardinals poured draft resources into fixing their 25th-ranked defense of a year ago, they did very little in free agency to help the youngsters come along without pressure," he said.

"Up front, general manager Monti Ossenfort brought in Justin Jones to play inside. Jones notched 4.5 sacks with the Chicago Bears in 2023, however he was the only notable veteran addition to a front seven desperately needing more playmaking. 

"In the secondary, Ossenfort signed Sean Murphy-Bunting to a three-year, $22.5 million deal, hoping to provide a stalwart on one side. Still, Arizona will be painfully thin at corner if second-round pick Max Melton isn’t immediately ready."

According to Spotrac, four of Arizona's five top contracts in terms of overall value came on the defensive side of the ball.

There were several articles written about the Cardinals overpaying on each of Murphy-Bunting, Jones and even Bilal Nichols. Those three have a combined total contract value of $77.6 million. If you factor in Mack Wilson's $12.75 million, that pushes their top defensive spending in free agency to $90 million.

There was a clear and concise effort by Ossenfort this offseason to target players with veteran experience while still having players under the age of 29/30.

Sure, the Cardinals didn't nab any big fish free agents. But we have to remember this is just the second stage of Arizona's rebuild, which wasn't expected to be at completion in just 24 months.

The Cardinals are certainly gambling on youthful faces stepping up in the cornerback room, though it's a risk Arizona was willing to take while addressing other areas of the team and not overspending.

Props to Ossenfort for sticking to the plan.