Cardinals Optimistic as Rebuild Continues
ARIZONA -- They tore it all down, and for good reason.
Many times in the NFL, a general manager will convince themselves that a roster isn't that massively far away from competing again and will try to place proverbial band-aids on the roster in hopes of somehow fighting for a postseason spot.
The Arizona Cardinals had enough of the Steve Keim/Kliff Kingsbury era and decided to start anew with Monti Ossenfort/Jonathan Gannon last offseason.
Arizona - coming off a 4-13 campaign where nearly nothing went right - was just one season removed from a postseason berth. The 2022 Cardinals had expectations to go further, though it quickly became clear the team wasn't quite what anybody had thought.
There was a chance Ossenfort would continue rolling the dice on big name veterans past their prime, and in a business that operates on results, not many would have blamed him.
Yet Arizona decided to launch a full rebuild of the roster, parting with their biggest names in free agency before letting go of other prominent faces throughout the summer.
The end result was the same (4-13), though there's a strong sense of hope and optimism moving into the future that was nowhere near matched at this point last offseason.
"It’s been fantastic working with Monti this last year. That’s why I was almost late coming down," Gannon said at his end of season press conference.
"I was talking with him just upstairs right now, but yeah, we have a very specific vision of what we want to do and that’ll be flexible and adaptable too. I think like those high-level meetings, the sit down drag outs, close the door, stay up late—because we’re in constant communication all the time those are kind of fluid and they’re pretty easy, honestly. I’m looking forward to more of those.”
Part of that optimism is the full health of quarterback Kyler Murray, who rebounded quite nicely from ACL surgery and proved himself worthy of a spot on the roster after months of reports suggesting otherwise.
"I’m excited about it. I know the guys are excited about it and trust and believe in (General Manager) Monti (Ossenfort) and ‘JG’ (Head Coach Jonathan Gannon) in what they’ve got going and what they’re building here," said Murray after Week 18. "It’s a complete 180 and I’m happy. I’m happy (with) the position that we’re in and I look forward to going into next season.”
Gannon added to that optimism:
"I didn’t see what he said, but he knows like, you’re the franchise quarterback. He’s a big-time leader of this team. I won’t tell you all the conversations we have, but he knows he’s the closest thing to me out there, so I want him to operate in a certain way. He went above my expectation for what that looks like. I think he’s only continued to get better," Gannon said of Murray.
"We’ve got to get better together, and he will. Whoever’s ever back here in 2024, they understand what’s expected and how we operate. If they’re back here, myself, Monti and the coaching staff feel really comfortable about their roles—whatever they might be. I always say the price of admission is team and then you, and if they’re back here in 24 they have that.”
Arizona now strolls in to a 2024 offseason with a slew of top draft picks and strong salary cap space to go in whatever direction they choose.
“The first thing I think you’re talking about during (the offseason) is acquisition, right? I think that Monti has done a fantastic job of the acquisition periods (from) this last year in 2023 and bringing in guys that we see fit to be Cardinals," said Gannon.
"Not to say you don’t make mistakes, but we hit on a lot of those guys. That’s what we told the rookies too, today, because there’s going to be another group that’s injected into this team that now they kind of have to show the way. When a guy gets out of alignment, you’ve got to bring them back into alignment, but the rookie class I can’t say enough about those guys. Some guys that we brought in, not just at draft time but in September or December they hit the price of admission for those guys as team and then you. I think that when you do that and continually add those pieces and the coaches improve and the players improve, you’ve got a chance.”
It's far too early for any parades or victory laps, but the Cardinals are undoubtedly an exciting team to watch over the next few months.
