Cardinals GM has made six draft-day deals last 2 years

Darren Urban

The phone calls that come during the draft, that Monti Ossenfort loves.

All the action, "it's cool," the Cardinals general manager said Wednesday as he and coach Jonathan Gannon held their annual pre-draft press conference. Gannon compared the time in the draft room before a pick to the emotions of a game right before kickoff.

The conversations that happen haven't changed from when Ossenfort started in his first Cardinals draft in 2023. But his anticipation abilities have improved.

"You learn maybe when a certain team calls, who is more serious and you can kind of gauge what kind of call it'll be when you see the caller ID," Ossenfort said.

"You kind of know what (offer) is coming, whether it's good, bad or ridiculous."

The Cardinals select 16 in the first round of next week's draft, significantly lower than the third and fourth spots Ossenfort prepped for the past two seasons. The Cardinals have only six selections, half their total from 2024, although Ossenfort insisted he wasn't going into the draft insisting he find an extra selection or two.

That doesn't mean it won't be attempted. In his two drafts, Ossenfort has executed six trades, five of them down to accumulate more draft capital and all in the first three rounds.

"We have to be ready," Ossenfort said. "The only way to be ready for those situations is to do the work.

"We have six picks right now. Will we end up with more than that? Less than that? I don't know."

Trading down, especially in the first round, means someone would need to trade up, however. And in this draft, that may be a little more difficult. There has not been any action of yet.

This has been the first year since the league had the common era draft (1967) where every team owned its own first-round pick at the start of the league year. If there is not a trade before the Titans are on the clock a week from Thursday, it'll be the first time a first-round pick will not have been dealt between the start of the league year and the draft's open since 2014.

At issue is two-fold the lack of a strong quarterback class, which almost always generates trade potential in the first round, and a general feeling that there might not be that big of a talent gap beyond the top five or six players all the way through 25 or so.

"Those things are always hard to predict," Ossenfort said. "There is always going to be movement of some sort. We have to wait and see."

At least one team has traded into or within the top 15 picks in 24 straight drafts.

What position the Cardinals target in the first round isn't set either; it can't be picking at 16 and so many permutations possible before the Cardinals are on the clock. What Ossenfort wouldn't do is rule out a spot defensive line, for instance, despite the team adding multiple bodies there in free agency.

"If we can add an impact player, and he checks boxes on and off the field, it's never going to be a bad pick," Ossenfort said.