Biggest winners from the 2023 NFL Draft

Arizona Cardinals Introduce Jonathan Gannon as Head Coach

Monti Ossenfort

The final name I wanted to give credit to here is the new general manager of the Arizona Cardinals. Because after just one draft, I’m a bigger fan of what he was able to accomplish than really any of the decade Steve Keim had to turn the Birds into a contender, other than maybe 2015.

And it’s not just the players he selected individually, but rather the positions he targeted in those ranges and his process behind it all. Perhaps most impressively, the way they maneuvered around the board throughout the weekend.

Now, first and foremost, it feels like Monti and company probably got a little bit lucky at the top, with the Texans apparently having a generational-type grade on Alabama edge defender Will Anderson Jr. and being willing to invest as much draft capital to move up for him, after already grabbing their QB of the future in C.J. Stroud second overall.

Otherwise, it appeared that Arizona might ultimately be stuck at number three, but they were able to package that with an early fourth-rounder (105th overall) for a massive haul – pick 12 and a quasi-first-rounder with 33, along with the Texans’ first and third next year.

Yet, after the Lions probably were scrambling a little bit considering the guy heavily favored to be their choice at sixth overall in Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon was taken by the Seahawks a spot earlier, the Cardinals decided to move back up six spots, in exchange for a much smaller return – pick 34 and 168, while getting pick 81 back – and they still got the guy that was really picking up steam for them being the choice at third overall – the consensus top-ranked left tackle Paris Johnson Jr.

However, that’s not where things stopped for Arizona. In the second round, they moved down eight spots with the Titans having eyes on the falling Kentucky QB Will Levis, in exchange for moving up nine spots in the third round and another three next year.

With those selections, they brought in my fifth-ranked edge defender in LSU’s B.J. Ojulari and a top-ten corner not taking injury into account Syracuse’s Garrett Williams, who is now projected to return from the torn ACL in July already.

Plus, then the best trade they pulled off in my opinion – going back to the well with the Lions – they traded pick 96, which Detroit used on a barely drafted D-tackle in my opinion (Brodric Martin from Western Kentucky) for picks 122, 139 and 168.

They went on to turn those into a guard who put up elite testing numbers at the combine in UCLA’s Jon Gaines II, a developmental quarterback with great arm and movement talent in Houston’s Clayton Tune and run-and-hit linebacker with 4.39 speed in Auburn’s Owen Pappoe.

That’s along with selecting one of the most refined route-runners in Stanford WR Michael Wilson (94th), a feisty nickel in Louisville’s Kei’Trel Clark (180th) and an interior D-lineman I had inside my top-100 overall prospects late in the sixth round with West Virginia’s Dante Stills (213th).

Others draft classes I liked: Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, New York Giants & Seattle Seahawks

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