Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker reported to mandatory minicamp Monday after requesting a trade earlier this offseason. The 5x Pro-Bowler did not attend OTA's, but Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort said on the “Wolf and Luke” show that Baker has been very open to communication.

“We’re going to continue to keep our discussions and line of communication open, which Budda's been great, his representation's been great.” Ossenfort said. “We're gonna get through this week here and see where we're at.”

Smoothing the relationship with Baker is high priority for the Cardinals. They already let go of 5x All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and franchise cornerstone Kyler Murray is still recovering from his ACL injury.

If Murray gets healthy and returns to the best version of himself, Arizona has a very strong place to build from. If he doesn't, and if they lose Baker, the franchise is headed in the wrong direction.

The Cardinals quickly went from a team that looked like they were putting it together to one of the worst teams in the league over a tumultuous two-year stretch. They started the 2021-22 season at 10-2, then fell apart and ultimately lost in the Wild Card round to the L.A. Rams. Last year, things worsened as Arizona won just four games.

The good news is it seems unlikely Baker will hold out for the 2023 season, so Arizona shouldn't be forced into trading him. The Cardinals also made a series of savvy moves in the draft to fill some critical needs and stack up more capital for future drafts.

They got their left tackle in Ohio State's Paris Johnson Jr., which should do wonders for Murray's play and also his durability. They also got a steal in LSU's BJ Ojulari at No. 41 overall to hopefully recover from the departure of J.J. Watt.