The #AZCardinals plan to hire #Titans Director of Player Personnel Monti Ossenfort as their new GM, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. He impressed last year during the circuit, now lands a big job. pic.twitter.com/DUECKoQCZe
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 16, 2023
This might be big. The Arizona Cardinals are hiring a new general manager, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, who reports former Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots personnel executive Monti Ossenfort will be their new GM. That’s significant for the New Orleans Saints because Ossenfort has no ties to Sean Payton, who Cardinals ownership is in the process of recruiting for their open head coach position.
And the Cardinals never so much as met with Payton’s presumed preferences for the job — Saints personnel executives like Jeff Ireland and Khai Harley, and their former scouting director Ryan Pace. New Orleans won’t allow Payton to bring Ireland or Harley with him as lateral moves, so it seems they won’t have an inroad to Arizona with Ossenfort taking over.
Does that take the Cardinals out of the running? Not at all. They were the only team out of the four to have requested permission to interview Payton without a general manager under contract, so now the playing-field has been leveled with Denver, Houston, and Carolina. Payton has spoken reportedly about the critical relationship he values with a front office and ownership group, so Arizona won’t have an edge when it comes to bringing in someone Payton has worked with before.
Things just got a little more intriguing. Payton doesn’t have a working history with Ossenfort but that shouldn’t deter him from taking the Cardinals job. We’ll see how things develop this week as Payton begins his formal interviews with each of the teams entering his sweepstakes.