Cardinals
Monti Ossenfort is entering his third NFL Draft as the Cardinals’ general manager. Ossenfort said he’s learned which teams are serious about trades as calls come in.
“You learn maybe when a certain team calls, who is more serious and you can kind of gauge what kind of call it’ll be when you see the caller ID,” Ossenfort said, via Darren Urban of the team’s site. “You kind of know what (offer) is coming, whether it’s good, bad or ridiculous.”
With the No. 16 overall pick, Ossenfort said they “have to be ready” to make a trade.
“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.”
Ossenfort added they won’t shy away from making a pick if they can add an “impact player.”
“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.
Seahawks
- Per Bob Condotta, Seahawks GM John Schneider said the signing of QB Drew Lock “doesn’t preclude” them from taking a quarterback in the draft.
- Schneider talked about the state of their quarterback room: “Really excited to have all four of those guys but in particular to have Sam Howell and Drew kind of competing for that second spot is a pretty good deal for us.” (Condotta)
- He also mentioned why they wanted to get the deal with Lock done before the draft: “…let’s see what happens in the draft because it’s difficult to find that right fit at quarterback as you move through the process.” (Condotta)
- Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline notes there’s been buzz about North Dakota State OL Grey Zabel and Nebraska DL Ty Robinson as potential Seahawks draft targets; Zabel in Round 1 and Robinson sometime on Day 2.
- Schneider says fullback is a position they’re still working on adding either via free agency or the draft. (Michael-Shawn Dugar)
Seahawks
The Seahawks will look drastically different on offense in 2025 as they will replace Geno Smith, Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf with Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Seattle HC Mike Macdonald isn’t looking to compare this version to last year’s because of how different the two groups are.
“I think it’s different,” Macdonald said, via ESPN’s Brady Henderson. “I mean, we have a long way to go. We have different players in the building, and we’re really excited about those guys. But as a football team, we have to do a great job throughout the offseason program of installing our process again, not skipping steps, being connected as a football team, doing all the things the right way so we hit the ground running in September. But you can’t evaluate where we are compared to last year because there’s so many different pieces.”
When discussing their decision to pursue Darnold, Macdonald cited his leadership qualities and ability to throw on the run as the biggest reasons they went after him.
“You come from all these different angles from people in the building that have worked with him even all the way back to his USC days and really, to a man … they love the person, they love the leader, the teammate. The film kind of speaks for itself with his accuracy, able to push a ball down the field. Specifically with us, we move the pocket a good bit now, so Sam’s a great thrower on the run and he’s able to make a lot of plays that way and then in these critical downs in the red zone and third down, especially last year, he had such a great year and that we’re going to be counting on him to come through in those situations.”
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