“All these questions about who’s going to start made me want to ask this question: who makes the final decision on who starts? I suspect you’ll say it’s a joint decision made by the front office and the coaching staff. But I can imagine a scenario where the head coach wants to start player A at left guard because it gives the team the best chance to win, but the GM wants to start player B because he just got a big free agent contract and he has to start to justify the contract. As always, thanks for giving us this format!”
No, who starts isn’t a joint decision, nor should it be. It’s up to Jonathan Gannon and his coaching staff. Now, what is a joint conversation is, for instance, Monti trying to sign a big free agent and making sure the coaching staff is on board if they brought the guy in. If they aren’t on the same page in that regard, things can get sideways quick. Same with high draft picks. Now, an organization can get caught up in the politics of, say, a drafted QB in the first round. Owners tend to pay attention to that one. But in the end, a healthy organization — which I believe the Cardinals have — has constant conversations but leaves the on-field decisions to the head coach.