BIGGEST QUESTIONS: Monti Ossenfort, Arizona Cardinals Have BIG Questions To Answer To Salvage Season

BIGGEST QUESTIONS: Monti Ossenfort, Arizona Cardinals Have BIG Questions To Answer To Salvage Season

There are many questions the Arizona Cardinals need to ask themselves as they sit idally during their by-week. What are the most important ones? Let’s discuss. You are Locked On Cardinals, your daily Arizona Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Alex Clancy here. It’s Friday. It’s the by week. I’m on vacation but still I am talking to you also. Uh thanks for making lockdown Cardinals your first listen man. Free where every podcast and on YouTube part of lockdown podcast network your team every day. Today’s episode of Lockdown Cardinals is brought to you by Mazda man. It’s brought to you by Mazda. Like our players we sweat every detail because when you make every move count pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights in this week’s moving the game forward. Mazda move and be move. So I did positives yesterday. Okay. I think it was necessary little pallet cleanser, little reprieve because there are a handful of things that are very good about the Arizona Cardinals this year. That’s not blowing smoke. That’s not rainbows and butterflies. It’s factual things that we witnessed throughout the year and they needed to be highlighted. Check out yesterday’s show for that. Today, the biggest questions and this is kind of a Monty Austin 40 kind of show. This is more big picture stuff. Not only for this year, like the last segment, which is going to be if the Cardinals continue to lose, do you bring Garrett Williams back? The injured players, do you just leave them on the shelf, let him get healthy? Do you bring him back? Last segment, what salvaging the season looks like from the lens of obviously this year and next year. I’ll explain. And first, it’s the quarterback. Okay. So, going into next week, starting on Monday, it’s going to be about Dallas and the and this year and not Kobe or Kobe. Oh my goodness. I watched a Kobe documentary last night. A Jacobe or Kyler. Jacobe or Kyler. It’s there’s going to be twinges of that obviously because it’s a conversation, but it’s not a conversation because it’s going to be Kyler Mur if he’s healthy. But Monty Austin for sitting up in the booth in the booth you know in the whatever wherever he sits up there he sits up higher than everybody else looking down at practice looking down at games watching film talking to JG talking to Drew Petting specifically like what’s going through his mind this is the biggest question and it’s obvious but I have to do eight minutes on it and I get to do eight minutes on it because it’s fascinating. This is one of the best social psychology experiments you can have. It’s fascinating all the different angles. I I equated it to, you know, a kaleidoscope, not a coin. There’s so many different sides to this that what will happen, putting my Clanchis hat on, is that Kylo’s going to start until he forces them to bench him because he plays so poorly. That’s really never happened before. It’s happened in spurts. He’s been a pretty good quarterback pretty much since he came into the league. Okay. Pretty good is not difficult to do anymore as compared to a lot of the crapbox stuff we see with other organizations. Okay. Regardless of how much you like or dislike Kyler Murray, he is a an above average quarterback in this league. It’s just a matter of if times run out with the Arizona Cardinals. We don’t know. Okay. Some people think they know. Some people thought they knew the day before the draft when it was when it was leaked that the Cardinal were going to take him. But for Monty Austin and Jonathan Ganon, obviously it’s there is a meteoric shift that can happen this year that sets up the ball rolling downhill for next year where you’re moving and finding another quarterback or you roll with Kyler. Maybe he gets maybe you string some wins together after the buy and then maybe you’re in the hunt in week 13 or 14. It’s a lot of season left. But that’s the biggest question and this may be the most obvious segment I’ve ever done and it’s the most one of the most important ones I’ve ever done since Kyler Murray was drafted. How strongly does Jonathan Ganon feel, you know, visav Monte Oenfort feel about Kyler Murray leading the charge when their job could be directly tied to it? Biggest question. Monte Osford, not so much. I don’t know why people want to fire on Montford. You guys got to relax. You gotta chill the hell out with that. Do you know what the hit rate is normally for a GM on star players? It’s like 10% 15 20%. Like people think that John that Montford’s supposed to hit on every single draft pick. It’s like come on man. He drafted their franchise left tackle. He d fr He drafted their franchise CB1 in Garrett Williams. He drafted their franchise CB2 in Will Johnson. Brought back Trey McBride. Brought back James Conor. Brought back and James Conor getting hurt now. Obviously that’s but brought back Buddha Bay. He’s done a wonderful job getting the Cardinals out of the Mesazoic era. Maybe he’s not the long-term solution. I don’t know. But he’s definitely the last person to point the finger at. So, when you look at this situation, it’s very delicate. There’s a very clear path forward with the path of least resistance for everybody. you pay the you play the guy who makes the most money who showed brilliance over his career and who has a much higher ceiling than Jacobe Br on the other side which is.1% chance of happening you roll with Jacobe and you say sorry Kyler you’re not going to be the quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals anymore so from the Montasavort lens it’s even more delicate because does that mean that he needs to get on Does that mean that if they want to get any sort of return for him, you got to do it now? Or do you roll the dice, hope they play a lot better in the second half? Well, after, you know, the second half of the season after the by-week and that Kyler returns. I said this on the squad show last night. There’s no correct way to get out of this situation. And I’m not saying get out of this situation with Kyler or anything. Get out of this funk that they’re in. There’s no proper way to do it. There’s no correct way to do it. There’s just least wrong ways and they need to come to a determination of what those are. This is a horror movie. This isn’t an AMR tapping video. This is this is a, you know, a rock concert when you’re trying to study for a final. This isn’t an ASMR Tingles video. Shout out to ASMR. This isn’t that. So, while the stakes are at their highest, the decisions are going to be are going to have the most impact not just for this year, but for years to come. And this isn’t this isn’t an abnormal thing for a GM. This is their job. Okay, I understand that. But this is personal because it’s the Cardinals now. No. Even if he didn’t believe in Kyler Murray, nobody expected this having these conversations. I did. Okay, Bucko. Congratulations. Congratulations. I’ll have you on the show. We can talk about how you’ve told the future. Monty Austin Fort’s job in this is a lot more delicate and a lot more difficult than anybody else’s because he’s the iron fist when it comes down to it over JG over everybody. He’s the iron fist. He’s the boss in so many words. So, the biggest questions going into the byee, of course, it’s the quarterback. But it’s not just who’s the better player right now or who fits the offense better. It’s how do you not fracture the future by making a decision now? Like, say you sick Kyler Murray, which they won’t, but I mean I have to talk about every angle here. So, say they sit Kyler Murray, okay? And Jacobe Brassette falls off a cliff. Not physically, you know, his his play does. It’s like, well, you go back to Kyler Murray. No, that’s the dumbest thing in the world. The only person, and I strongly believe this, and this doesn’t make me a Kyler like a homer. Like, man, some of you guys, Kyler Murray is the only quarterback the Cardinals have that can catch lightning in a bottle for six weeks or eight weeks and go seven and one. It’s not Jacobe. Jacob’s floor is higher, but it doesn’t touch Kyler’s ceiling. And Jacob ceiling doesn’t touch Kyler ceiling. And you know, Montials for taking a stress ball, tennis ball, you know, throwing against a wall and trying to figure out what the path is. And it’s, you know, it’s most likely going to land on just starting Kyler when he’s healthy because that’s what you’re supposed to do. and come what may for Kyler Murray, the coaching staff, etc. Lockdown Cardinals, your team every day. What salvages this season? What does that look like? Uh, is it playoffs or bust still? Is there redeeming qualities? We’ve been here so many damn times before. What’s the consolation prize look like behind door number one? Next, this episode of Lockown Cardinals is brought to you by FanDuel. Uh, FanDuel’s awesome. They’ve got an offer you don’t want to miss. If you’re a new customer right now, you can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. Let me say that again. Right now, new customers can bet just five bucks. And if that bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets. That’s right. Pick a bet. Put down five bucks. If it hits, 300 bucks in bonus bets. Boom. This is a great time to do it, too. Like, you got NFL NBA launched. Like you want to do a little single game parlays, first basket props, first touchdown props for NFL, you can do whatever you want. And if you win your first $5 bet, if you’re a new customer, you put down $300 in bonus bets can go a long way. So what are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. Today’s episode is also brought to you by Ripling. So um if you’ve been in business, this is going to hit home for you. Okay, here’s the truth. 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Personally, awesome that it’s a by-week football. No cardiac Cardinals. Yes. Fantasy football. Selfish. Yeah, it’s going to be good. But this is a very, very important time for the Cardinals. And you know, you go back and forth. It’s like just a little aside here. Is this the perfect time for a by-week or do they need to be playing football and go win a game? Uh I think you can make arguments for both, but I do think the hard reset is probably what edges out 5545 if we’re going to do the if we’re going to do percentages. Uh Montort’s got a lot to think about. The Cardinals have a lot to think about as an organization. Quarterback, sure, obviously first. What salvages this season? What does that look like? Um, so playoffs making a run. uh looks like it’s more and more fleeting. But listen, from a rational from a rational outlook, from a rational stance, if you told me, so say we did a blind taste test, not taste test, did a blind test and you put all the stats for the Cardinals, all of them, team stats, uh, uh the scores and the wins and losses and you were asked did that team end up making the playoffs. You do this and we first through the first seven weeks or whatever and you add at the end it’s like does this team make the playoffs like oh they lost by a combined 13 points. This is a pretty good team. This is a pretty good team. They can they went toe-to-toe with two of the top teams in the in the NFC with a backup quarterback or the NFC with the Colts and the and the Packers with the backup quarterback. Huh. Oh, yeah. This team’s humming. They’ve got a good defense. Huh. Yeah. So, because it’s the Cardinals, it 100% looks like it’s insurmountable, and it most likely is, but we’re not even halfway through the season. And you could I can continue to move the goal post. I get it. We’re not even halfway. We’re 48% of the way. It’s like I understand you can move the goal post and stuff like that and I and I am in this instance, but you look blindly at the stats and the record that’s caused by it and the 13 point differential between four games, five losses. It’s like, oh yeah, this team can 100%. Just a couple balls bounce their way, they win five in a row, they’re right back in it. The problem is the Cardinals have everything going against them. Um, they are 100% at the end of the year going to have the toughest strength of schedule. Like, yeah, they’re 100% going to have the toughest strength of schedule. So, um, it’s an uphill battle. Okay. Kyler Murray’s not healthy. We’ll see if he comes back uh against Dallas. You would assume he will. You would assume he will. So that’ll be about four weeks from, you know, when he last played. So salvaging it for me, like eight wins. And salvaging doesn’t mean saving jobs. Salvaging doesn’t mean bringing Kyler Murray back. Salvaging doesn’t mean much aside from a consolation price. It’s like, hey, rough go early. could not take care of business in one-score games early and then you turn it around, you go on a little run. I mean, teams get on all the time and the Cardinals have the talent, especially on defense, to be able to do it. They’re playing really tough opponents. I mean, they got the Rams twice, they’ve got Atlanta, they got Tampa Bay, they’ve got Seattle and and the the 49ers soon. Uh Dallas is playing lights out. I mean, Jacksonville is not a bad team. like there isn’t an easy even Cincinnati, you want to go up against Joe Flacco and and uh Jamar Chase and and uh Tiggins with what they’re doing right now, Chase Brown. I’m sure Joe Bur will be back, but still it’s like there’s not one game where it’s like, oh, the Cardinal, yeah, that’ll be a good win for them. But what they’ve got is a team that can compete with any team in the NFL. This isn’t 2023. This isn’t even last year where we didn’t really know. We didn’t know yet. like they can compete with anybody. It’s just a matter of the quarterback playing the offensive line holding up. So, we’ll see. Like, I understand that the quarterback has to play well for the team to compete. Completely understand that. But, it’s going to come down to that’s where it gets muddy. It’s like, okay, if Kyler looks bad against Dallas, against a team that’s given up a 30 burger to Green Bay and and and the Giants with Russell Wilson before Jackson Dart took over and you know, they give up points. Everybody’s hurt and they traded Michael Parsons. That will be difficult to maneuver around. That’ll be difficult. But I’m still in the camp. Kyler’s going to start if he’s healthy. And that’s probably what should happen. I’m not saying that it’s I’m not saying it’s the right thing. I’m not saying that the the offense looks better with Kyler Murray. I’m not like homering Kyler Murray here. But this is what it is. He’s the starting quarterback. This isn’t like Deshun Watson forgot how to throw a football. This isn’t Bryce Young during his first year where he would just wasn’t ready and Andy Dalton came and played for a couple weeks, you know? It’s not that This is a substantiated quarterback in the NFL who’s played pretty well for a good portion of his career. It’s just like I don’t know, man. It’s not that simple. For people who think it is, it’s not. It’s not. So, what salvages the season? Eight wins. What gets Kyler Murray coming back in 2026? 10 wins. They got to win eight out of 10. Let’s see. This is more of a more of a this year question, but really a next year question. This is a This year is the um what are those things called where the the the gymnasts run down and do the the springy thing and then onto the onto the horse and then they do the flippies. What’s the springy thing called? I don’t care. This is the trampoline for next year, just for lack of a better phrase. The springboard. Nailed it. This is the springboard for next year regarding injured players this year and not rushing them back to play. I’ll discuss it next. Markdown Cardinals, your team every day. I get silly on Fridays sometimes. Today’s episode is brought to you by Mazda. Moving the game forward for those who believe it’s not just about playing the game, it’s about redefining it. And there are moments that do more than put us on the board. uh they move crowds, move culture, and keep moving the game forward. This week’s move uh movement that moved the game forward is listen man, I talked about it yesterday. Will Johnson being able just to play football. For those that have listened to Lockdown Cardinals for a long time, he’s not he hasn’t had any oh no moments. In the preseason he did, but in the regular season he had he’s had a couple penalties, but the dude is allowing this defense to stay afloat without Garrett Williams. Max Melton is starting to slip behind Will Johnson in the talent department. I know that Max Milton goes up against ones more, but Will Johnson is continuing to move forward. He was one of the highest graded Pro Football Focus guys through five weeks. like this dude is ready to rip right away and it’s so painfully obvious and that’s fantastic for the Arizona Cardinals in their future on defense when you follow what moves you. The unexpected is only the beginning and just like there’s more to every highlight, there’s more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda move and be moved. Please go to the YouTube channel again. Lock in Arizona Cardinals, man. Come on. It’s going to be good content no matter what the Cardinals do. Um, I uh don’t know how to really package this final segment other than to say I’m not rushing Garrett Williams back. Like here, here’s the thing. the guys of this segment specifically that it’s under is like listen if guys are healthy they’re going to play. Okay, it’s it’s just it’s what it is. They’re paid to play football and if they’re healthy they’re going to play. Uh you know down the stretch week 14 he’s still not totally right. It’s like are you going to bring him back for week 17? Because like here’s here’s the biggest thing and this is from the human element of it and how it directly impacts next season. Say you rush an injured player back week and they’re playing in week 12 or something. The Cardinals are three and a 100 and he gets injured again reagravates you’re looking at missing half of next year too. So of course you want to put the best product on the field always. It’s always what you’re doing. That’s always what they will do. There’s no such thing as tanking. These guys are vying for jobs if not on the team they’re currently on for or elsewhere. So yeah, you’re going to get some backup guys if teams out of contention in week 16, 17, and 18. But it’s like they’re vying for roles. So it’s not like they’re not going to play hard. It’s like, oh yeah, let’s tank to get a good draft pick. And that draft pick could be my position. Sweet. Let’s do that, guys. Sign me up. No, but there’s that little dance that teams do down the stretch where it’s like, you know what, let’s just put you on season ending IR. Let’s just do it. Um, and it’s an inexact science and this is predominantly focused around Garrett Williams and Bio Ojelari, I guess, is still on the team, which is cool. Um, haven’t seen him play in, you know, this millennia, so that’s awesome. Um, it’s a tricky one. It’s a tricky one. Now, of course, if the Cardinals win three in a row and they’re in contention, they’re around they’re hovering around 500. Week 13, it’s like, okay, or week 14, I know it’s got to be an odd I know it’s got to be an odd week. Oh, no, 13 because they’d have a by-week already. Um, you know, maybe do the dance if they’re hovering and the guy’s, you know, getting closer 80 90%. He rams up, he opens the window, and he comes back and plays cool. Uh Trey Benson, another one. Um the Garrett Williams one is fascinating that he they put him on air. I thought he was done for the year. The way he went down in that game against Carolina, I thought he was done for the year. Obviously, it’s so great that he’s not for the human being for sure and for the team obviously, but like Trey Benson, I think you bring him back no matter what because putting the best product on the field is putting the best running back that didn’t break his foot on the field. You hope that he’ll be back when the window opens right away. You hope Walter Nolan will be back in week nine because he’ll have not only that short window that was opened on I think it was on Tuesday before this past week and then you have the full bye-week. You hope he ramps up and plays in Dallas on Sunday on on you know sorry a week from Monday. But that is just another thing that Monty Austin for really needs to, you know. He’s always looking at the future. GMs are always looking at the future. It’s kind of one of those things. Phil Phil Jackson said this, and I’m paraphrasing, but he said if you practice well during the week, you have to you don’t have to coach much on game day. Now, that I think it was when he was asked why he sits down all the time and he’s not getting up pacing all the time when he was on the sidelines. Obviously, football’s different a little bit, but it’s the same kind of thing. If you set the team up for success come week one, then you’re looking at the future and you’re tweaking and you’re reacting. Obviously, things are a little bit different now because so many players have gotten hurt and that’s not an excuse. It’s just a fact. Um, Kyler Murray’s been out, they’ve lost a bunch of games that they were tight tight end, they should have won a couple, they should be in a much better position than they are going into their by-week. Monty Osford is not only looking for now, he’s wildly looking at the future. And having the injured guys, especially the star guys, um because that’s who’s on IR right now. Um having them in the best position to succeed not just for this year if necessary, but also for the future and not risk losing them for good chunks of next year, too. It’s a difficult, delicate dance to do. A lot of dancing in this show. a lot of dancing in this show. Uh, so I don’t know, man. Going into the buy, they have so many questions quarterback, what does salvaging this season look like? What do they need need to do to get there? And I didn’t even touch on the ramifications of the coaching stuff. I think it’s way too early to talk about, oh, let’s fire everybody. It’s like, okay, cool. Then what? Buckaroo, what do you got? Do you have a grand plan? Well, no. Elevate somebody. Cool. How does that look? Okay, sweet. Um, it’s so difficult to maneuver a situation nobody had really any idea was going to hit. Like, there’s not a contingency plan for this right now. There’s a contingency plan for everything, but being two and five going to their by-week, I don’t think was on anybody’s bingo card. And while it’s been slowly ramping, it’s not a surprise anymore. Now they’re two and five. Obviously, it’s like now what? This is why I kind of wish they were able to play this weekend. Idle hands, man. It either makes people tighten up. It’s like, nope, stick with the plan. Kyler Murray, go. Kyler Murray, go. I don’t care what the offense looks like. Do it. And then idle hands. It’s like, you got to mix something up here. Salvage the season. I just don’t like people have DM’d me and and tweeted and and commented and text me like are the Cardinals going to trade for somebody? It’s like who like they’re not one player away from being in contention they going to trade away anybody? Who would they trade away that isn’t just a wildly integral part of this team? Like you’re not trading Paris, you’re not training Will Johnson. You’re not trading Garrett Williams. Like these guys are like the the the lifeblood of the future. Like you’re not training anybody like that. The only person you can trade is Kyler Bernie. And I just don’t I just don’t see a world, man. I just don’t see a world. I mean, not like even if like Monty Osmo was this gunslinger just ripping trades, trading picks for players, trading players for picks, like you know, we did a little bit of that, but like nothing crazy. Even if he did that up until this point, it’s like, “Oh, anything’s on the table.” You’re not moving Kyler Murray. You’re not. And I don’t think they should. Like, it’s so easy just to say that and then get angry when it doesn’t happen. It’s like, that’s not how this stuff works. And I And to people’s credit, excuse me, who I’ve gone back and forth with, which is great. I love it. Um, I’m the one who always says challenge like challenge the run-of-the-mill way to do things. Like, okay, just Well, it’s because it’s how it’s always been done. Why? Has it worked? No. Then change it. Who cares? So that would fall under this category of moving Kyler. But man, it’s just I think people have been waiting for a reason to push on that more. And Jacobe Brass said playing well for two days was kind of the the jet fuel for that. But that doesn’t mean that it’s the right move. It just doesn’t mean that it’s the right move. Mike Cardo is your team every day. Listen, um full of gratitude. Thank you to everybody who watches every day. Um I I really appreciate it and uh wouldn’t be out wouldn’t be here without you guys. So um with that, hope you have a great weekend. Watch some football that’s not the Cardinals. Win your fantasy matchups. Remember, without you there is no me. I’ll talk to you Monday.

The Arizona Cardinals stand at a crossroads, and this episode dives deep into the team’s most pressing issues. Host Alex Clancy unpacks the quarterback dilemma between Kyler Murray and Jacoby Brissett, a decision that could define the franchise’s trajectory.

As the Cardinals navigate their bye week, Alex examines the team’s slim playoff chances and evaluates GM Monti Ossenfort’s performance to date. The discussion covers critical topics like managing injured players, particularly rising star Garrett Williams, and explores potential trade scenarios that could reshape the roster.

Alex offers insights on whether the 2025 season can be salvaged and debates the fine line between prioritizing player health and maintaining competitiveness. He also explains why trading Murray, despite speculation, might not be a viable option for the team.

This episode provides fans with a comprehensive look at the Cardinals’ current state, offering expert analysis on the decisions that will impact not just the remainder of this season, but the team’s future in 2026 and beyond. Whether you’re a die-hard Cardinals supporter or an NFL enthusiast, this in-depth discussion promises to shed light on the complex challenges facing one of the league’s most intriguing teams. Let’s discuss.

The Best Daily Arizona Cardinals Podcast. Host Alex Clancy (@ClancysCorner) take an unbiased approach covering the biggest Cards stories.

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