Cardinals Starter Ranks as Top Ten Center

The Arizona Cardinals saw some of the best performances out of their offensive line in recent history across the 2024 season - and their starting center was an incredibly underrated member thereof.

Denmark native and Cardinals' starting center Hjalte Froholdt, according to Pro Football Focus, was one of the better offensive linemen in football in 2024. In fact, he was a top-10 center according to their grading metric.

Here's what PFF had to say about the desert viking:

"Froholdt has had one of the more interesting career paths among players on this list. Drafted in 2019 by the Patriots, Froholdt only played 61 snaps in New England and was waived after his second season. He was claimed by the Texans in 2021 but didn't play a snap for them before joining the Browns in 2022, with whom he also had inconsistent playing time.

"The Cardinals took a chance on Froholdt in 2023 as their starting center, and he has not disappointed, playing more than 1,000 snaps in each of his two seasons in the desert. Froholdt had a career year in 2024 in both PFF overall grade and PFF run-blocking grade (78.1)."

And that's what Froholdt has been for the Cardinals - a versatile, solid center who can help create a downfield stampede for RB James Conner, while also helping keep franchise QB Kyler Murray upright.

He's athletic enough to provide a downfield threat and plug holes, while also having enough size to generally hold up well against some of the better DTs in the NFL.

He hasn't been perfect, but he's been consistent, and that's often the best quality in an offensive lineman. In fact, he's played in all 17 games for the past three straight seasons - a quality that head coach Jonathan Gannon and GM Monti Ossenfort adore in their players.

Froholdt is 29 years old, but hasn't shown many signs of slowing. In fact, he's had his best career years at age 27 and 28. He's still under contract through 2026, and is only costing the Cardinals an average of $6 million per season.

It's a relatively new feeling, having a center Arizona can rely on since A.Q. Shipley departed in 2019, or perhaps since the days of Lyle Sendlein. The Cardinals' OL continues to be an underrated strength of a team that's just on the cusp of contending for playoff wins in a dangerous NFC.