The Arizona Cardinals were high on Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown when he came out of college a year ago. He was selected one pick before the Cardinals made the eighth overall pick, which ultimately would be linebacker Isaiah Simmons.
Had Brown still been on the board at No. 8, he very likely would have been the pick for the Cardinals.
In a redo of the first round of the 2020 draft by Draft Wire managing editor Luke Easterling, the Cardinals get Brown.
Brown had a solid rookie campaign in Carolina. He played in all 16 games, starting 15 of them, and had 34 tackles, eight tackles for loss, two sacks, 12 quarterback hits and four pass breakups.
He would likely have gotten more playing time than Simmons by default because every defensive lineman on the team except for Angelo Blackson spent some time on injured reserve.
Now, is Brown the best pick there? Will he end up being significantly more productive in his career than Leki Fotu or Rashard Lawrence, both of whom the Cardinals selected in the fourth round of last year’s draft?
Honestly, any redraft that doesn’t have the Cardinals going with Simmons should have them taking receiver CeeDee Lamb. Lamb would have keep them from having to add A.J. Green this offseason and they would have been more productive in the passing game last year. They still could have added Lawrence ance Fotu on the defensive line and maybe they land a linebacker some other way.
I didn’t like the idea of taking Brown with the eighth pick a year ago and don’t like it now in a redraft.
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