At first blush, the 2023 NFL Draft trade between the Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans looked like two losing ships passing in the night.

Though that’s still at least partly true of the Cardinals, full context paints a bit of a different picture — one that shows two young, shrewd organizations following each other out of hell.

After stockpiling picks heading into 2023, the Texans went all-in and kickstarted their rebuild by trading up to pair QB C.J. Stroud with Will Anderson Jr. As a result, the Texans are one of the league’s most improved clubs and appear to have a real plan for the future. The Cardinals, meanwhile, are close to being in position to do the same thing.

With two first-round picks and six selections in the top 85 this year, Arizona has more high-level draft capital than any other team in the NFL. The biggest question facing GM Monti Ossenfort and coach Jonathan Gannon involves the future of quarterback Kyler Murray. From a financial standpoint, trading Murray this offseason doesn’t feel like a best-case scenario — a pre-June 1 trade would create $46.2 million in dead cap; it’s a bit more manageable if the Cardinals can make the move after June 1.

But nothing’s impossible in the NFL, especially ahead of a draft with prospects like Caleb Williams and Drake Maye.

Even with Murray’s contract, though, Arizona is still in a position to build this just about any way it wants. Here are three, three-round 2024 mock draft scenarios that prove exactly that.

Scenario A: Picking the best player in the draft

For this scenario, we’re using the current 2024 NFL Draft order, which has the Cardinals picking behind Chicago and New England. In that world, Williams and Maye are gone — and life is really easy for Ossenfort. Marvin Harrison Jr. is arguably the best football player in this draft and the prospect who can make the quickest (and biggest) impact next year. He essentially was an NFL football player in college this year, and maybe as a sophomore last year, too.

Murray has always had an interesting cast of weapons in Arizona, but it’s not hard to figure out why his 2020-21 stretch looks so much better than every other year he’s played in the league: He had DeAndre Hopkins, for a full season, both years.

Harrison is arguably the best WR prospect we’ve seen since Calvin Johnson, and as close to a can’t-miss as this draft has.

MASERATI 🗣️🎙️@MarvHarrisonJr extends @OhioStateFB’s lead! 🌰 pic.twitter.com/xvBdmoiJ1A

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 21, 2023

The edge situation in the middle of the first round is going to be interesting. There may not be a clear No. 1 at that position, and we might see some pretty talented guys get pushed down the board. Gannon has gotten more juice from Arizona’s pass rush this year than many expected, but adding Jared Verse (or even UCLA’s Laiatu Latu) would give him a true, coveted three-down piece. Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell might be gone in the first round, as the Florida native is arguably the best non-Power 5 prospect in the draft.

Whether or not the Cardinals keep Murray, the offensive line still needs work. Paris Johnson Jr. has had his adventures at right tackle as a rookie, but he’s still an outstanding, 22-year-old athlete who was in need of some time coming out of college.

Arizona needs more help inside, though. Connecticut’s Christian Haynes was one of the best run-blocking guards in America last season and someone who could push to start. Frazier also has rookie-starter potential and he’s the best of a center class that’s not particularly deep.

Scenario B: At No. 2, a QB …

Here, we’re using Austin Mock’s most updated draft-order projection, which has the Cardinals barely edging out New England for the No. 2 pick. Our model believes it’s unlikely the Panthers will move off the top spot. However, it’s worth pointing out the Cardinals have the hardest remaining schedule of those three clubs, by a bit (Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and an improving Chicago team.)

In this world, we have the Cardinals starting over at QB — either by choice or because Murray wants out. Again, this is not an ideal scenario, and the trade market for Murray is not likely to be very friendly.

But for the sake of the exercise, here we go.

With Williams off the board at No. 1, the Cardinals are left with QB2 (or possibly the real QB1, depending whom you ask). The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Maye, who should run in the 4.6-second range at the combine, is — if you catch him on the right day — either as good or even slightly better than Williams with regard to big-time arm talent. For every “whoa” highlight you’ve seen from Williams, I promise you Maye has an equal.

Both of these guys have flaws and will need time to grow. For Maye, there are still mechanical and footwork issues to be ironed out, as his accuracy is often impacted by his desire to just whip the ball with his arm (which sometimes works), rather than throw with his whole body (which always works).

Drake Maye is officially headed to the NFL. Here’s a left-handed TD throw just for fun. pic.twitter.com/0ihiAyYj2a

— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) December 11, 2023

Maye, like Williams, is a franchise-level prospect. And if the Cardinals can turn around and get Florida State behemoth Keon Coleman — the best non-Marvin Harrison Jr. “X” receiver in the class — to pair with him, all the better. The Cardinals absolutely will be able to find a star receiver (LSU’s Malik Nabers and Washington’s Rome Odunze are two others), even if they don’t nab Harrison early.

After opening with a QB in this scenario, the Cardinals’ draft capital still allows them to check every must-have box before the end of the third round. Chris Braswell, Brandon Dorlus, Caelen Carson and Christian Mahogany all are capable of pushing for starting reps immediately.

Scenario C: Trade down

In the final scenario, also using Mock’s projections, the Cardinals trade the No. 2 pick to Washington for Nos. 4 and 36. I’m a trade-down guy more often than not, but the Cardinals already have a lot of picks in hand. At some point you’ve got to start building.

Washington (whether it thinks so or not) needs a QB, though, so we’ve got a trade.

This brings up another scenario: Arizona taking an offensive tackle. The Cardinals just added Johnson and have a decision to make on soon-to-be 30-year-old LT D.J. Humphries, who has been with the club eight years now. If Arizona wants to move on from Humphries, then taking another tackle makes sense. If Arizona wants to keep Humphries (perhaps on a reworked deal), it still could consider OT1 — either Penn State’s Olu Fashanu or Notre Dame’s Joe Alt — and move Johnson inside to guard, where he had extensive college experience.

At worst, Arizona should leave the first three rounds with one new starting offensive lineman.

The other wrinkle here is the appearance of Oregon’s Bo Nix in Round 2. This is a deeper quarterback class than we’ve seen in recent years, especially at the top. I’m not convinced Nix will be gone before the third round, but with the extra pick acquired via trade, Arizona can make that move early and give itself real insurance for the Murray situation without rushing a rookie.

Bottom line …

From a talent perspective, Arizona is in a position to make a jump.

Defensively, edge BJ Ojulari currently leads all rookies (minimum 120 snaps) in pass-rush win rate (18.4 percent) with 16 pressures and four sacks. Second-year LB/edge Zaven Collins is talented and could be a real player, if the Cardinals figure out where to put him — he’s been an edge this year after playing more of a stack role in 2022. LB Kyzir White will be back, as will edge Dennis Gardeck.

Adding a prospect like Verse in the first round — or even a Braswell/Jonah Elliss at the top of Round 2 — immediately helps every player listed above. There’s enough CB depth for the Cardinals to find a new starter in the secondary while also adding at least a rotational interior rusher.

This draft should allow Gannon to fully install what he wants defensively and help Murray (or a new QB) with foundational pieces on the other side of the ball. And that’s all before the start of the draft’s third day.

Chicago has an argument, but there might not be a team in the league with a bigger opportunity than Arizona will have this offseason.

(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

“The Football 100,” the definitive ranking of the NFL’s best 100 players of all time, is on sale now. Order it here.