Revenge of the Birds
Say hello to the 4-3 “flex OLB edge” defense!
Among all of Monti Ossenfort’s astute free agent signing and draft picks this off-season, the one signing that may be flying the most under the radar came via Monti’s mid-season 2024 trade with the Broncos for LB Baron Browning —-> yes, yet another Ohio St. Buckeye to enthusiastically don the Cardinals’ red, white and black.
Following the Cardinals last game of the 2024 season and while reflecting on the “exit interviews” they conducted with the players Monti, Jonathan Gannon and Nick Rallis unanimously expressed their despite to keep Baron Browning for 2025 and beyond. Facts are, Baron Browning with his superior quickness and bend was one of the few bright spots at edge rusher following the season-ending injury to Dennis Gardeck. Some of you may not know this, but Browning’s pass rushing grade of 76.2 was the highest on the team of pass rushers who played more than 300 snaps. In 8 games with the Cardinals, he finished with 25 QB pressures (22 QB hurries) and 2 sacks.
Browning’s 2-Year Deal:
Did you notice the date? March 9. The week before free agency —- which speaks to the urgency that Monti, JG and Nick Rallis had in getting this deal signed.
After the Cardinals went on to sign DE Josh Sweat, DT Dalvin Tomlinson, DE Calais Campbell and draft DT Walter Nolen and DE Jordan Burke, some fans may taken their eyes off of Browning for a bit —- but today we will attempt to suggest why the coaches have kept Baron Browning as one of their defensive focal points all along.
I say we —- because as one of the many perks of being an ROTB member, one can count on our members to come up with a brilliant epiphany of sorts every now and then, as was the case yesterday, imo, when this comment “spiked” our interest on the “Early Favorites to Start” thread:
Don’t you just love it when Spike and any of ROTB’s members look into their crystal balls?
If one considers the nature of the Cardinals’ off-season signings along the front lines, then one may conclude that, from the get-go this off-season, Monti, JG and Nick Rallis had it mind to veer away from the team’s old 3-4-4 base defense in order to get “back to the future” with the 4-3-4 hybrid defense that JG ran in Philadelphia.
Many of us were wondering whether the Cardinals were going to make a pitch to sign Hasson Reddick, the genuine article of the “flex edge” OLB of that 2022 Eagles’ defense.
Turns out —- the Cardinals already had the “flex edge” they wanted in Baron Browning.
For the sake of shiggs and gittles, let’s do a side-by-side comparison of their numbers:
Per their...
