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Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. — If you drive by the Arizona Cardinals‘ practice facility and hear a steady hum, don’t be alarmed. It’s just the neon “OPEN” sign hanging outside general manager Monti Ossenfort’s office.
“I don’t like it blinking,” Ossenfort said, tongue planted firmly in his cheek. “That kind of messes with my eyes.”
The second-year general manager doesn’t actually need a noble gas to let other teams know he’s open to discussing a trade for the No. 4 pick in this year’s NFL draft. The “action,” as Ossenfort called it, started heating up in the last couple weeks and continued this week in Orlando at the NFL’s annual owners’ meetings.
Whether the Cardinals are actually interested in trading out of the fourth pick is something maybe only Ossenfort, and possibly a few select others, knows at this point. But that won’t stop him from taking calls from and having conversations with other teams.
“We’re always going to be listening,” Ossenfort said. “I think we will always have the conversation. We may not get to a point where the deal makes sense, whether it’s at four or anywhere we’re picking, but we’re always going to have the conversation, and if it makes sense and if it’s attractive to building our team and then it’s something that we’ll certainly consider no matter where we’re at in the draft.”
For months, three quarterbacks have been projected to go in the top three picks: USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels. Lately, the chatter that a fourth quarterback — Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy — could be considered a top first-round pick has put the spotlight on the Cardinals and Ossenfort. McCarthy was initially a 50-1 favorite to go No. 2 when the markets opened in February, according to ESPN Bet. On Monday, that dropped to 10-1 and by Tuesday it was 3-1.
Should McCarthy go that high, it could cause a chaotic chain of events — and the Cardinals would be right in the middle of it.
What’s to be determined will be how much draft capital it’ll take to get into the top picks, Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton said this week in Orlando, Florida. Denver has the 12th pick, but Payton said it’s “realistic” that the Broncos could conceivably trade their way into contention for a top quarterback.
“I think it’s good to be Monti today at Arizona, right?” Payton said Monday.
To which Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said on Tuesday: “No kidding.”
However, New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo threw another wrinkle into the conversation at the NFL’s annual meetings: After initially thinking there were only three top-tier quarterbacks, he now says there are five.
Like Ossenfort, Mayo said the Patriots, who have the No. 3 overall pick, are open for business, too.
“We are open,” Mayo said Monday. “We’re open to trading the pick. We’re open to taking a guy there.”
Most of the conversations Ossenfort has had, is having or will have are about possibilities — laying the groundwork for a potential trade.
“We pick at four, that means we don’t know what’s going to happen at one, two, and three,” Ossenfort said. “So, I think people have conversations, ‘Hey, if this happens or if so-and-so is available here, then maybe we could talk and it would look something like this.’ But, ultimately there’s still a lot of unknown, and, really, there will be until we’re on the clock that Thursday night in April.”
With about four weeks left until the first round kicks off on April 25, Ossenfort expects the calls and conversations to continue until then. But he said they likely won’t get “real serious” until the week of the draft. That’s what happened last year: The Cardinals traded out of the No. 3 overall pick down to 12th and then back up to sixth, where they chose tackle Paris Johnson Jr.
“The pro day piece is kind of the final on field piece for evaluation purposes,” Ossenfort said.
As of now, the Cardinals are still in the middle of organizing their own board but they’re on target with a month left, Ossenfort said. ESPN insider Field Yates’ mock draft has the Cardinals taking former Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. at No. 4, while insider Matt Miller has Arizona trading its pick to Denver.
Gannon said he’s “excited” with Arizona’s plan, where the Cardinals are with their evaluation and what they need to add to the roster. This time of year, though, even though they talk daily, Gannon tries to stay out of Ossenfort’s way.
“Right now, he’s in season, so I leave him alone a little bit,” Gannon said. “This is like his baby, so I just say, ‘Hey, you just do your thing, man. Just do your thing. We feel good about it.'”
