The Cardinals have been pretty drama free. Jonathan Gannon knows it, and with a smile he noted it wasn't always the case.

"When I first got here I had to talk to Budda," Gannon said. "'I want you here, buddy.'"

That was in 2023 when safety Budda Baker asked for a trade because the end of his contract was coming. The Cardinals eventually tweaked his deal to get Baker in-house, and before the season ended, the Pro Bowler had his extension. (And made sure it wasn't a problem in 2024, which would have been the last year of Baker's deal.)

"That was a phenomenal dinner," Gannon said.

The subject came up because of how much the Cardinals haven't had to deal with such things. As much as blocking dummies and 7-on-7, contract issues somewhere in the NFL during training camp is part of the landscape. You just hope it isn't an issue on your team.

So this year while the Bengals, Commanders and, to a lesser extent, Cowboys, (Trey Hendrickson, Terry McLaurin, Micah Parsons), the Cardinals are good. And have been.

There might have been something. Star tight end Trey McBride was going into the last year of his rookie contract. That could've been a thing. But GM Monti Ossenfort made sure it wasn't, publicly saying at the Scouting combine in February it was a priority and then executing the deal a little more than a month later.

"It's a business so I understand why these things happen," Gannon said. "Monti has done a really good job and (owner) Michael (Bidwill) has done a really good job to eliminate a lot of those for us. When you can eliminate a lot of those now you can concentrate on football and getting better and you're not worried about distractions.

"Now, distractions are only distractions if you let them be that. But we are talking about people's lives too so I understand it. I'm very grateful we're in this spot as we sit here today."