Arizona Cardinals 2024 NFL Draft: To trade or not to trade? That is the question

Do you want Monti to play “Let’s Make a Deal”?

Look at that man pictured above. That’s Cardinals’ GM Monti Ossenfort. As we fans know, Monti has been very busy signing players in free agency.

PFF recently released their free agency grades for each team. Their grade for Monti Ossenfort’s efforts: C.

ARIZONA CARDINALS

• Re-signed: EDGE L.J. Collier (one year, TBD)
• Signed: CB Sean Murphy-Bunting (three years, $25.5M)
• Signed: DI Bilal Nichols (three years, $21M)
• Signed: DI Justin Jones (three years, $30.1M)
• Signed: LB Mack Wilson (three years, $12.75M)
• Signed: RB DeeJay Dallas (three years, $8.25M)
• Extended: C Keith Ismael
• Signed: T Jonah Williams (two years, $30M)
• Released: T D.J. Humphries
• Acquired via trade: QB Desmond Ridder
• Signed: WR Chris Moore (TBD)

Jones brings a high motor and was the Bears’ Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee in 2023, always quick to talk some trash and energize the defense. Nonetheless, this payday dramatically outpaces his down-to-down production. He does have some occasional splash plays that illustrate what made him a Day 2 draft pick, but this is probably the deal we view as the most player-friendly signing so far this offseason.

With the added and important context that there were virtually zero free-agent options at cornerback not nearing 30 years old, it makes sense that Murphy-Bunting was able to cash in big time. The former No. 39 overall pick has good size at 6-foot and 195 pounds, and he recorded four interceptions to go along with nine more pass breakups over the past two seasons. Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon used to coach defensive backs, so he’ll try to tap into Murphy-Bunting’s physical gifts in his third stop.

Nichols is a rock-solid player on the interior who can contribute on all three downs, and he has some wiggle to get upfield as a pass rusher, with a low center of gravity that helps him weaponize his undersized frame. Arizona needs all the help it can get along the defensive line, and Nichols is a good start.

PFF FREE AGENCY GRADE: C

2024 free agency grades for all 32 teams | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

Haha, maybe PFF saw my tweet in reaction to their grade, because they issued the grade yesterday before updating the Cardinals’ recent free agent signings and the trade Monti made with the Falcons.

• Jonah Williams (typo)

The actual grades will depend on how well Jonathan Gannon and his staff can coach up the new talent. The new players are excited about the energy at the Cardinals’ training facility, and they concurrently describe the Cardinals as “an ascending team.”

Interestingly, here are PFF’s free agency grades for the 3 teams ahead of the Cardinals in the 2024 NFL Draft:

• CHI : B
• WASH: A
• NE: B+

At least in PFF’s minds, the Bears, Commanders and Patriots have done a commendable job of paving their way toward taking a QB at the top of the draft, which, of course, they and every NFL pundit under the sun believe is their top priority.

Yet, now that the Vikings have acquired the #23 pick via a trade, the speculation is that they did so with the intention of packaging their #11 and #23 picks to move up into the top 4 to select their own choice for QB.

Rumors have been swirling since the NFL Combine that Michigan’s QB J.J. McCarthy has been rapidly ascending up draft boards and that McCarthy may actually be rated higher on some teams’ draft boards than Drake May and/or Jayden Daniels.

Another rumor involving the Vikings is that they would not have made the trade to acquire the #23 pick had they not had “assurances” of moving up into the top 4 of the draft —- in other words, they already have a deal in place.

If this is as true, the question is —- which team would have given the Vikings such assurances?

• CHI —- no, not after they just traded Justin Fields to the Steelers
• WAS —- no, not after they just traded Sam Howell to the Seahawks (with Marcus Mariota as bridge QB)
• NE —- perhaps, seeing as Boston Globe NFL writer Ben Volin wrote yesterday that there could be a belief that the Patriots could get a good year out of bridge QB Jacoby Brissett, if they believe it would be in their best interest this season to stockpile draft picks. However, new HC Jerod Mayo has been making it clear that the plan all along has been to take a QB at #3 and develop him a year behind Brissett.
• ARI —- perhaps, given that Monti Ossenfort has in his brief term as GM shown a penchant for acquiring draft capital. While for over a year Cardinals’ fans have been assuming that WR Marvin Harrison Jr. is, without a doubt, Monti Ossenfort’s #1 priority in the draft, could it be that Ossenfort has been hoping all along that the #4 pick would be a hot spot for a big-time trade, the way the #3 pick was last year?

ROTB Poll:

Prediction:

• How did you vote?
• What do you want Monti to do?