“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.