The Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals wheeled and dealed on Thursday night to create some fireworks at the top of the NFL Draft, where three quarterbacks went in the first four picks.
After the Carolina Panthers took Alabama QB Bryce Young No. 1 overall, Texans GM Nick Caserio picked Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud at No. 2 overall and then traded up to the No. 3 pick with the Arizona Cardinals to land Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson Jr.
Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort acquired significant capital in the trade back from No. 3: the Texans’ No. 12 overall pick, No. 33 overall in the second round, and first and third-round picks in 2024.
Then, after the Indianapolis Colts picked Florida QB Anthony Richardson at No. 4 and the Seattle Seahawks got Illinois CB Devon Witherspoon at No. 5, the Cardinals traded back into the top 10.
They moved up from No. 12 to No. 6 with the Detroit Lions and picked Ohio State OT Paris Johnson Jr. Arizona gave up No. 12 and No. 34 to make the move.
And the top 10 trades weren’t done.
The Philadelphia Eagles then traded up one spot from No. 10 to No. 9 with the Chicago Bears to snag controversial Georgia DT Jalen Carter, giving up only a 2024 fourth-round pick.
That followed up the Las Vegas Raiders taking Texas Tech edge Tyree Wilson at No. 7 overall and the Atlanta Falcons selecting Texas RB Bijan Robinson at No. 8.
That made Robinson the first running back to be selected in the top 23, let alone the top 10, since Saquon Barkley at No. 2 overall in 2018.
The trade activity in the top 10 made for an entertaining opening night.
Ossenfort, Arizona’s first-year GM, was an intriguing new player in the action, although not all of Thursday’s news was positive for the Cardinals organization.
Minutes before the draft started, the Cardinals were forced to surrender their No. 66 overall third-round pick to the Eagles on Thursday for impermissible contact while recruiting new head coach Jonathan Gannon.
The Eagles agreed to give Arizona pick No. 94 in this year’s third round and a 2024 fifth-rounder in exchange for the Cardinals’ pick at the top of Friday’s third round as a settlement of the issue.
The league snuck in the news dump minutes before the start of the NFL Draft’s first round.
The memo said the Cardinals “self-reported to the National Football League that General Manager Monti Ossenfort had a phone conversation with then-Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon in the days following the NFC Championship Game, a period during which contact is not permitted under the League’s Anti-Tampering Policy.”
The Cardinals’ organization has been a mess lately. This is the second recent instance of impermissible contact accusations against the organization.
Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill has been accused of gross misconduct, including cheating, discrimination and harassment, in an arbitration claim filed recently by former Cardinals executive Terry McDonough to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
McDonough said he and former Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks, who was fired after only one season on the job, were left with no choice in 2018 but to follow Bidwill’s plan to use burner phones to communicate with suspended GM Steve Keim during that year’s training camp.
Keim was serving a five-week suspension after pleading guilty to extreme DUI in Arizona. The Cardinals denied the allegations and told ESPN the claims were “outlandish.”
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