“Ego will not be tolerated,” Monti Ossenfort, new GM of the Cardinals indirectly warns players in his message to rebuild the entire team
Monti Ossenfort to rebuild the entire team after a disappointing season.
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Monti Ossenfort (Image via Fox News)
After a disappointing 4-13 season, Arizona Cardinals fired head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who had a 28-37-1 record during his four-year tenure. Cardinals also accepted the resignation of General Manager Steve Keim, who stepped down from the role due to health reasons.
As reported by NFL Insider Ian Rapoport, the Cardinals hired Monti Ossenfort as the new general manager on Monday. Ossenfort earlier served as Director of player personnel for the Tennessee Titans from 2020 to 2022 before joining the Cardinals.
Ossenfort was interviewed by many teams for the general manager role, including the Titans, but decided to leave Tennessee after the firing of GM Jon Robinson. As part of his duties as GM, Ossenfort will interview and hire the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
Monti Ossenfort says the Cardinals won’t be collecting just talents anymore
Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill had to change the perspective of his team and needed the right person to build a Super Bowl-worthy team and they found their man in Monti Ossenfort. “He possesses every attribute of a successful GM — passion, leadership, intelligence, work ethic — and his extensive experience has clearly prepared him for this role. We could not be more thrilled to have Monti and his family joining the Cardinals,” Bidwill said in a statement via NFL.com.
In his opening message as the GM of the Arizona Cardinals, Ossenfort set the tone straight. “We’re not just collecting talent, we’re going to build a team,” Ossenfort said. “Ego will not be tolerated in this organization. [We want] people that are willing to put the team first every step of the way.” While this was not directed to a specific individual on the team, the name Kyler Murray does pop up.
Back in November, the Cardinals quarterback had made a lewd comment and took a shot at Kingsbury for losing against the Los Angeles Chargers. Murray also had a heated argument with his head coach and even told him to ‘‘calm the f*** down’’ on the sidelines in the game against the Saints. So, maybe, just maybe, this was directed at the former No.1 pick.
Last year in July, Murray signed a five-year $230 million extension but had a clause of independent study which was later removed, but it had already done its damage. Murray has been accused of not studying tape and rather playing Call of Duty. Now that Ossenfort has taken charge, he plans to change everything that has been holding the team down and rebuild it.
With the vacant head coach position, the Cardinals have started interviewing candidates for the job. They have taken permission from the Saints to interview Sean Payton. They also plan to interview DeMeco Ryans and Brian Flores. Vance Joseph, an internal candidate of the Cardinals, will also be interviewed. Frank Reich, who was fired by the Indianapolis Colts, also joins the list of potential candidates. Let’s see who Ossenfort hires as Kingsbury’s replacement and what the duo does in the 2023 season.
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Yash Karandekar
(1023 Articles Published)