TEMPE, Ariz. -- When the Arizona Cardinals went on the clock in the sixth round of the NFL draft on Saturday with the 211th pick, their previous five picks had all been defensive players.
Despite picking Texas offensive lineman Hayden Conner, general manager Monti Ossenfort went right back to defense in the seventh round for the Cardinals' final selection of this year's draft, giving the Cardinals six of seven picks on the defensive side of the ball. When Ossenfort had a moment to breathe on Saturday evening and looked back at this year's haul, he said the Cardinals didn't skew heavily toward defense on purpose.
"Really, it's just how it worked out," he said. "It wasn't the plan at all. It's one of those things where we stick to the philosophy of staying true to our board. I certainly would've loved to add some people on offense but just the way it worked out.
"We were always going to take the guy who was higher on our board and it just so happened that six of seven guys were on defense. Who knows in the next draft, how that'll go, but this draft just leaned towards defense."
While Arizona's offensive needs -- wide receiver and right tackle -- were left untouched, the Cardinals addressed holes on defense with players who have the potential to make instant impacts, starting with first-round pick Walter Nolen. Ossenfort said the defensive tackle's ability to disrupt led to his selection with the No. 16 pick over other potential first-rounders.
It was a topic Ossenfort said was discussed at length internally.
"We wanted to have a more disruptive defensive unit," he said. "We think we've added guys that can help us do that."
Ossenfort said there was "no question" the Cardinals wanted to upgrade their defensive front this offseason. And that's what they did, both through free agency with the additions of edge rusher Josh Sweat, and defensive tackles Dalvin Tomlinson and Calais Campbell; and through the draft with Nolen, pass rusher Jordan Burch and linebacker Cody Simon. That's on top of the players returning who "have really high ceilings," coach Jonathan Gannon said.
In the past, Arizona has discussed moving away from its philosophy of sticking with its board in favor of taking a specific position, Ossenfort said. But, he added, it's hard to go wrong taking the player the team had valued higher.
That led to Arizona stocking up its defensive front and adding two more cornerbacks to an already deep room.
Heading into OTAs and minicamp, the Cardinals have eight edge rushers on the roster -- and nine if Mack Wilson Sr., who's traditionally inside but has played off the edge at times, is counted -- with the addition of Burch.
With Sweat already penciled in as a starter on one side, there'll be a summer-long battle between the other seven to find snaps. But don't tell Ossenfort that the Cardinals have an overabundance of edge rushers.
"The next time I hear somebody say we have too many edge rushers, it'll be the first time," he said. "That's a good problem to have. The more the merrier here. We're excited to put those guys all in the room, let them loose and see what we can do."
Ossenfort also created a log jam at cornerback by adding second-round pick Will Johnson and fifth-round pick Denzel Burke, the 11th and 12th corners on the roster, respectively. Arizona has now picked five corners in the last two drafts.
With all four corners who started last season on the roster, Arizona will be forced to decide at some point during training camp: stick with the same unit as last year or insert another player into a starting slot.
"I think there's a lot of competition there, as well," Ossenfort said. "We added a bunch of guys last year in last year's draft, we added the guys this year. I think that's going to be a really highly competitive group.
"We talk about it all the time: You can never have enough corners that can run and cover and take the ball away. It's a passing league, there's always going to be stress on those guys. I think that competition is really going to shake out and then whoever can rise to the top of that's going to put us in a good situation."