Arizona Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort pulled off the rare win-win-win this week.
Move over, Michael Scott.
Unlike The Office’s regional manager poorly taking over conflict resolutions, it was about the complete opposite for Arizona’s lead man.
The Cardinals were clear winners this week with the return of fan favorite Calais Campbell before doubling down on signings with a four-year contract extension for tight end Trey McBride.
In the span of a few days, Ossenfort locked in two players that are heading toward (or already at) all-time-Cardinal status. That’s how big these moves feel.
And that’s before mentioning how these deals look to outsiders around the league. Eyebrows have been undoubtedly raised over how Arizona has switched up its spending this offseason.
The wins don’t stop there, though.
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As big as the deals were on the Cardinals’ side of things, they were equally as impactful for the players involved.
For Campbell, he gets the perfect bookend to an impressive and lengthy NFL career that began with the Cardinals in 2008.
He brings with him a wealth of knowledge about what it’s like to play in Arizona and in front of the Red Sea.
Even more importantly, he solidifies a defensive line that was a liability last year and adds leadership that cannot be understated.
And for those still wanting to talk about his age, the dude has put up at least 5.0 sacks in each of the past three seasons. For comparison, Zaven Collins paced the Cardinals with that same number in 2024.
Let’s not understate what he could bring to defensive coordinator Nick Rallis’ creative scheme.
Then there’s McBride.
The extension was more about when it was coming down rather than if it was happening.
Not locking him up long-term or even letting negotiations bleed into the regular season would have been foolish and an unnecessary distraction in a critical Year 3 for the current regime.
It was clearly a weight off the tight end’s shoulders, too.
“I knew Monti wanted me here. I knew I wanted to be here,” McBride said Friday. “I knew we were going to get something done. I didn’t know when it was going to get done, but just to get it done before OTAs, before training camp, so I can just kind of focus on football and have that sigh of relief that weight off my shoulders. … I’m glad it got done when it got done and just eager, excited, all the emotions.”
Now, McBride gets the reassurance he’s here for the long haul after unloading on opposing defenses behind 1,146 yards and two receiving touchdowns on 111 catches in 2024. He was far and away the team leader in catches, receiving yards and first downs (63).
And given his low scoring totals, there’s still plenty he can improve upon. Sounds like a pretty safe bet to me.
The impact of McBride’s extension has another layer to it, too.
Remember, McBride was a mainstay from the previous regime after being selected in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He marked the highest draft pick for the Cardinals that year after they swung a deal to acquire wide receiver Hollywood Brown from the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for Arizona’s first-rounder.
There’s something to say about that.
There is an alternate universe where McBride doesn’t buy into the new regime’s philosophies. The Cardinals fail to find their standout of the future and McBride eventually exits stage left in 2026.
Instead, the tight end bought in from the jump — even when he was told things he didn’t want to hear. Both he and the team are better for it, as made evident by their respective jumps in the two years under head coach Jonathan Gannon.
“It was hard, I sat down with (offensive coordinator Drew Petzing) when I first got here and he told me very straight up, ‘Man, you’re a great player. You can do everything we want, but you might not play as much as we want you to early on.’ He was really straightforward with me and I took it hard, man.
“But to push through that to break the barrier and get to reap the rewards is very special. Just put my head down and grinded and to be here with JG, Monti, those guys, there’s no one better. It’s very, very special.”
And that brings us to our third and final win of this past week: The fans.
After watching the Cardinals take a measured approach in previous offseasons, they had a lot of skin in the game this free agency before the Campbell and McBride deals.
The Cardinals’ first round of massive adds centered around Josh Sweat and Dalvin Tomlinson. It was met with a resounding standing ovation.
Tossing in Campbell and McBride, a pair of Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year winners, feels like an encore.
As for how Ossenfort can put a massive bow on an already successful offseason? Nailing the upcoming NFL Draft.
Winning the offseason doesn’t count in the record books, but it certainly can help once the eye black is on.
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