What will Cards do with their No. 4 pick?
Most of the work on this year’s NFL draft for the Arizona Cardinals is done with a week to go until Day 1. So says General Manager Monti Ossenfort, who on Thursday said the only thing left to do is go over scenarios that could come about during the draft as far as trades and other developments.
“I’d say our (draft prospects) board right now is 95 to 98 percent complete. Hay’s in the barn, maybe that’s a good way to put it. So we’re in a good spot, we’re in a really good spot. And so now I’d say for the next week is when we do turn our attention to scenarios and this guy goes here, and we use the mocks (mock drafts) to take a look at that,” Ossenfort said.
“I don’t know that anybody knows anything more than we know,” he added. “I think we’re all just waiting, it’s we’ll sit there and watch TV just like you guys do and as those picks come across the board. For the next week, what we’ll do is we’ll throw different scenarios at each other. And how will we react if this guy is available, if this guy is not available? And so that’s what really this last week is for me.”
The Cardinals currently hold 11 picks and six of those are in the first three rounds of the draft, which begins next Thursday from Detroit. Ossenfort has fielded calls about trades and given what happened last year with the Cardinals trading down and then trading back up early in the first round to select offensive lineman Paris Johnson Jr., Thursday could be another very hectic 10 minutes of phone calls regarding deals.
Ten minutes is the time every team has in-between picks in the first round. The Cardinals hold the No. 4 overall pick, and while many are speculating they will keep it and use it to choose the highestregarded wide receiver in the draft, Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., so much else could happen.
Interested teams, presumably those choosing after the Cardinals, have already started conversations with Arizona about making a deal for the No. 4 pick. Ossenfort isn’t tipping his hand at what he plans to do.
Few saw him doing what he did last season to drop out of the third overall pick, then trade up from No. 12 to No. 6.
It’s worth mentioning because if Ossenfort has shown he’s willing to make those moves, he could do something similar next week.
Presumably, that takes Harrison off the board, but the Cardinals might still have a shot at other high first-round projected receivers such as Rome Odunze of Washington and Malik Nabers of Louisiana State. If a wide receiver is what they prioritize.
“We’ve had talks with multiple teams and multiple teams have checked in with us. The way I look at it is like, guys, I love my house. I love where I live, OK? My wife loves where we live. If all of a sudden there’s a knock on my door, and someone’s going to offer me something and I’m gonna look and see what they’re offering me,” Ossenfort said. “And if I open that up, and it’s something I’m not expecting, ‘Hey Shannon, let’s go pack up, it’s time to roll.’ That happens beforehand. It happens on the clock. But ... different teams have different motivations, but we’ll see how this one plays out next week.”
Could Arizona be enamored with a particular player? It’s more like having strong convictions about a player they want, Ossenfort said.
“Anyone that we’re going to add on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we’re going to have conviction about, we’re going to have conviction about the person, we’re gonna have conviction about the player,” Ossenfort said. “And we spent a ton of time on that. We spent countless hours, our scouts on the road. All-Star games, combine, (prospect top-) 30 visits. And that’s why we do it.”
The Cardinals have only twice before in franchise history traded down while holding a top-five pick in the draft. It happened last year, and before that in 1998 when they held No. 2 and moved to No. 3.
Earlier meetings this offseason at the league in Florida, Denver Broncos
head coach Sean Payton said “It’s good to be Monti today at Arizona” in reference to the Cardinals’ draft position, with the Broncos showing interest in a quarterback. An intriguing trade possibility involving cornerback Patrick Surtain II of Denver popped up on Thursday, and cornerback is a position the Cardinals could very well address.
“Nice of Sean to say. Yeah, I think I said it back at the combine, I mean, being at number four, it, it’s an opportunity, right, but it’s not an opportunity that we want to have moving forward,” Ossenfort said. “So we’re gonna use the opportunity to either add a really good player, or, you know, if there’s an opportunity to move around a little bit, then we’ll investigate that as well.”
Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon look forward to speaking to the players that the Cardinals draft and hearing their reactions and sharing in their joy of making pro football dreams come true.
“I got a tear in my eye when he talked about it. It’s cool, that’s the human element of the game. And because it is so performance driven and results and you know, cutthroat business, bottom line,” Gannon said. “By the time I get the phone I’m third (to speak), typically can’t even talk they’re so choked up, you know what I mean? So it’s a really cool thing and then seeing them walk in the building is pretty cool, too, for the first time.”