A high-profile NFL writer named Mike Florio tried to stir up some Cardinals drama over the weekend.
The owner of Pro Football Talk penned an article that criticized GM Monti Ossenfort and coach Jonathan Gannon for attending Kyler Murray’s Heisman Trophy statue unveiling on Saturday at the University of Oklahoma.
Now, I’m certainly not one to hold back when criticism of the Cardinals is warranted, but in this case it was asinine to suggest the Arizona brass was blowing critical prep time before the draft.
Just five days from the start of a draft that will be critical to the short- and long-term interests of the team, Cardinals G.M. Monti Ossenfort and coach Jonathan Gannon take a break to attend the Kyler Murray statue unveiling in Oklahoma. https://t.co/vxwUuK09v4
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 23, 2023
First of all, the Cardinals’ draft board is probably done by now. They’ve had months to work on it and there has been very little new information to consider the past few weeks.
Secondly, if Ossenfort and Gannon had work to do on Saturday, there was ample time to be productive both before and after the ceremony.
Arizona has been dysfunctional over the past calendar year and might be the worst team in the NFL in 2023, so it’s easy to take shots at the organization, but it’s a non-sequitur to correlate Ossenfort and Gannon’s presence at this event to any past troubles, because they have only been on the job a few months.
While that angle is a non-story, there is something we should take away from the visit: the new Cardinals regime continues to support its franchise quarterback unequivocally, which should be a no-brainer, but is a noticeable departure from the turbulent relationships that rocked the team in 2022.
During a tense contract extension stand-off and in-season struggles, in-house criticism of Murray made its way to national NFL reporters with regularity last year. It felt odd at the time, and now with a consummate professional in Ossenfort at the helm, the leaks feel downright juvenile.
While ex-GM Steve Keim has continued to take subtle jabs at Murray in his new role as a talking head, there have been no such anonymous critiques from the new regime — which has to feel like a breath of fresh air for everyone involved.
I wonder who the source was for all those anonymous leaks
— Kyle Odegard (@Kyle_Odegard) April 22, 2023
I’m not naive. Every team in the NFL is likely dealing with issues right now involving a star player, but evidence of that tends to come out after a resolution, not while the parties are still actively trying to win games together (see: Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.)
The Cardinals have a major uphill battle in 2023 to field a halfway competitive product because Keim left behind a tattered shell of an NFL roster.
But the easiest way out of the mud is through star-caliber play from a quarterback who has shown such ability.
So, yes, it made all the sense in the world for Gannon and Ossenfort to continue cultivating their relationship with Murray by attending the statue unveiling.
Legendary. 🏆🔥 pic.twitter.com/dP3rfgPpKh
— Derrick Spencer (@DerrickSpencer_) April 23, 2023
And even if we pretend like Florio’s opinion had an ounce of truth to it, a good relationship with Murray is still more valuable than running through potential Day 3 picks for the 500th time.
The losses are going to pile up in 2023, but if Murray can come back from his torn ACL and find a groove in the new offense, and if Ossenfort proves to be a substantial upgrade at GM, as things seem to be trending, then Arizona can get back in the mix by 2024.
The 2022 season was pure chaos for the Cardinals, and owner Michael Bidwill has since had a tremendously bumpy offseason.
But Ossenfort has been pragmatic in free agency and made a smart move by supporting his quarterback over the weekend.
While the draft will make him or break him, as it does almost all general managers, taking a few hours off the Saturday before was far from a negative. In fact, it showed the type of professionalism that is sorely needed in Arizona, and it’s a hopeful sign for the future.
