Will Arizona Cardinals’ long-term vision hold true?

The Titanic was constructed in 26 months. A Chinese skyscraper was built in 19 days. It should not take a serious NFL franchise three years to build a playoff team. Not if you claim to have an impact quarterback on your roster. 

The Arizona Cardinals seem to be on a different timeline. Despite buzzy local optimism and a majority of fans who expect 8-9 victories in 2024, the Cardinals are sending clear signals that they need more time. To wit: 

They remain flush with salary cap space, among league leaders with over $31.3 million of spending money. Yet they have very few impact players on their roster and seem completely disinterested in acquiring pricey pieces for their chessboard.

They just traded Cam Thomas to the Chiefs for a seventh-round draft pick, a marginal player surpassed on the depth chart by Victor Dimukeje and Jesse Luketa. Yet the Cardinals have lost two of their most promising pass rushers to injury and have very little depth at the position. And if they tell you that Thomas simply does not meet their standards, they are also inferring they are smarter than the Chiefs, the reigning Super Bowl champions. 

Maybe patience is the smart play for now. Maybe this team needs another heavy influx of productive draft picks to compensate for the fruitless and barren years from general manager Steve Keim. They are fourth on the waiver claim order and will be until early October, guaranteeing a steady array of new faces in Tempe. 

But Monti Ossenfort is taking a serious risk here. If Kyler Murray is destined to become an NFL superstar, it’s going to happen right here and right now. He’s healthy. He’s matured. He has real scar tissue and a firm grasp on a new system. He has flammable weapons and a robust running game to keep him upright and rolling hot.

No more runway is needed for Murray to make a quantum leap in the coming weeks. And if the 2024 Cardinals turn into a juggernaut on offense, Ossenfort might bear the blame for leaving the defense underfunded for a second consecutive year. He will have wasted another year of our sporting lives on a timeline that works for him but not us. 

Look around. The Diamondbacks are the hottest team in baseball, featuring a brilliant general manager with real access to spending money. The Suns are run by the most financially reckless owner in sports, a man gloriously spending through the nose to win a championship. We deserve more than an NFL franchise content with serving us leftovers, a team hoping to strike gold with other team’s rejects. 

Remember the promise owner Michael Bidwill implicitly made over 20 years ago: Help build us a new stadium and we’ll be financially competitive with every other team in the league. And yet the Cardinals seem to be lagging behind once again.

I will bottle my skepticism for the moment. For better or worse, Ossenfort is sticking to his plan, his vision and his budget. He has delivered promising results entering his second season on the job. And after the desperate swings and shoddy exit of his predecessor, he has earned some blind faith.

But if Murray turns into a firework show in 2024, he better hope that defense can stop somebody and get off the field when necessary. 

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