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Bringing In Familiar Players? Not Necessarily, Gannon Says

Coach confident in getting scheme to fit whomever Cardinals acquire

It happens with every coach, like when Ken Whisenhunt brought in Sean Morey and Clark Haggans, Bruce Arians with Drew Stanton and A.Q. Shipley, Steve Wilks with Tre Boston and Bene Benwikere. (Kliff Kingsbury not as much, because he hadn't been in the NFL, but he did bring in Antoine Wesley.)

When free agency starts, will it be a surprise to see a former Titan or two (thanks to GM Monti Ossenfort) or more notably, a former Eagle or two (because of coach Jonathan Gannon)? No. Already, one free-agency article speculated that Eagles cornerback James Bradberry would best fit with the Cardinals and Gannon.

The Cardinals are going to need bodies, given how many free agents they have and how much turnover generally happens in this circumstance anyway.

But familiarity isn't everything, Gannon said here at the Scouting combine. If the Cardinals do what they need to do, it's not crucial to have a bunch of players who "know" Gannon's scheme.

"Sometimes that helps with guys that are familiar with what you want to do," Gannon said. "But honestly, how we play is going to be built around our guys. So there will be a little bit of carryover, but it's not a copy-and-paste job of, 'Hey, this is the 2022 Eagles playbook. This is what we're doing.' It will not be that so we'll tailor fit what we're doing around our guys."

That said, oftentimes the familiar faces are brought it more to help with the attempted locker room culture. But it will be interesting to see what ties players might have as the Cardinals construct their 2023 roster.

JG and Monti at 2023 NFL combine
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