The Arizona Cardinals introduced their new general manager on Tuesday, and it's someone the New England Patriots organization is very familiar with: Monti Ossenfort.
Ossenfort first joined the Patriots in 2003 as a personnel assistant. After two years away, he returned in 2006 for what would end up being a 14-year stint. He worked his way up from area scout to national scout to assistant director of college scouting and then to director of college scouting from 2014-19. He was with the Patriots for four Super Bowl wins.
During his introductory press conference with Arizona, Ossenfort had lots of good things to say about his time in Foxborough, especially about the Kraft family and Bill Belichick.
"To the people in the Patriots organization -- Mr. Kraft, Jonathan and Dan Kraft, and the rest of the Kraft family -- that was a first-hand look at what it means to be a first-class organization," Ossenfort said in his opening statement (4:35 mark in this video). "The success we had there -- four Super Bowl wins, made it to three others, countless number of division titles -- it was an experience that really has shaped the foundation of who I am.
"To Coach Belichick, every day going to work was a masterclass of how to build a football roster and how to build a winning organization," Ossenfort continued. "There are core beliefs that I believe that I will take from there, as I will take from every step along my way, that I plan to bring here and put my own spin on it, and make it the Cardinal Way."
Ossenfort's first order of business with the Cardinals will be to find a head coach, as the team fired Kliff Kingsbury after a disappointing 4-13 season. And hey, maybe he connect with his old team about a possible DeAndre Hopkins trade.
Related
