GLENDALE, Ariz. — Our second stop is in the air conditioning of State Farm Stadium …
• There’s a piece of where the Cardinals go next that rests on the obvious—between 2023 and ’25, before Mike LaFleur and his staff arrived, GM Monti Ossenfort amassed a war chest of 29 draft picks—14 in the first three rounds—and their progress will be a huge key. The good news is a bunch have made really good first impressions under LaFleur’s watch. Some of those guys, like left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. and defensive linemen Walter Nolen and Darius Robinson, were first-rounders. Others, like Dante Stills, Jordan Burch and Cody Simon, were drafted further down the line. This much is for sure—for the Cardinals to compete in a rugged division and through a brutal schedule, it’s going to take a bunch of them all taking big steps together, as second-, third- and fourth-year players.
