GM Monti Ossenfort: Cardinals expect Baron Browning’s role to grow

It’s become clear that the Arizona Cardinals see value in pass rushers when others don’t.

They absorbed an injury to projected starter BJ Ojulari by standing pat in the preseason. Before the trade deadline, they swung a minor trade with the Denver Broncos to acquire Baron Browning, who had lost value to his old team.

On his new one, Browning played 18 snaps last Sunday in a win over the New York Jets, getting just enough familiarity to play a small role despite arriving in the Valley five days before the game.

“He did an awesome job,” Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort told Arizona Sports‘ Wolf & Luke on Friday. “We found a role he could play for the game and we expect that role to grow.”

Browning tallied two hurries in that small sample size, including a flushing of Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers that led to Cardinals teammate Xavier Thomas’ strip-sack.

The Cardinals under Ossenfort have made it a practice to find value — from first-round picks to undrafted players. Oftentimes, it’s finding value in players who can do a little of everything well.

It’s why they took defensive tackle Darius Robinson in the first round this year, and why Arizona extended fellow outside linebacker Zaven Collins despite a 3.5-sack full season in 2023.

Collins and Dennis Gardeck laid a blueprint for the reason why the Cardinals might be interested in Browning.

They began their careers in very different places respectively as a first-round pick and an undrafted rookie. But both have followed a similar evolution as off-ball linebacker turned edge player.

Browning can relate.

“Baron’s an interesting case,” Ossenfort said. “Baron came out of Ohio State and he played some off-the-ball linebacker, he played detached from the formation — really didn’t play on the line of scrimmage. Goes to the draft process and Baron is a very talented athlete. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s explosive.

“Denver did a great job of finding a home for him. He kind of settled into outside linebacker. … We think he fits schematically what we try to do defensively. We think he’s got three-down ability to play both the run and the pass.”

Under Gannon and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, the Cardinals have turned players deemed by others as tweeners into hybrids. It’s semantics, but the difference in connotation of the two words can maybe explain how uniquely Arizona’s front office thinks compared to the rest of the league.

Because of their backgrounds, Collins and Gardeck have the ability to drop into coverage on occasion, while inside backer Mack Wilson Sr. can invert into a pass rusher depending on down-and-distance context, scheme and opponent matchups.

As a collective unit, that scheme versatility has made Arizona a tough nut for opposing offensive coordinators to crack.

Browning appears to fit right into that plan.