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Cardinals Reveal Why They Traded Isaiah Simmons

Arizona Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon and GM Monti Ossenfort discussed the Isaiah Simmons trade.

The entire football world is still reacting to the Arizona Cardinals' decision to trade Isaiah Simmons earlier this morning. 

Once the No. 8 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Cardinals dealt Simmons to the New York Giants in exchange for a seventh-round pick in 2024. 

The return on investment isn't what many hoped if the Cardinals did decide to move on from the Clemson product, though prominent members in the organization spoke on the decision earlier this morning.

GM Monti Ossenfort:

"I think with any situation, we've talked to a lot of teams about different players and the situation presented itself this morning - and where we are in camp, where we are as a team, we thought it was the right move to make," he said via 12 News' Cameron Cox.

When asked if Simmons' performance was the main factor of the deal, Ossenfort responded with, "I think those are always considerations that come into play. We've had the month of training camp now and the two games. … Really it came down to the opportunity."

Ossenfort said it was a "culmination" of things that led to the trade and said it wasn't a "snap judgement". He also said the decision to not pick up the fifth-year option of Simmons back in the offseason was independent of the trade this morning. 

Full clip from Ossenfort's interview: 

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon also spoke on the trade, saying:

"I don't think it was an issue of what Isaiah did, he did everything that we asked him to do," Gannon said via the team's official website. 

"Moving forward we feel this is the best way we want to play football against other people. We're going to try and put the best guys out there that can function and do the best job."

The Cardinals will face New York in their home opener for Week 2 of the regular season.

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