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The Arizona Cardinals have used a Day 3 draft pick on a safety for the fifth time since 2016. The latest is James Wiggins, selected last weekend in the seventh round out of Cincinnati.
He has yet to play a down in the NFL but it appears he has a little bit of Cardinal in him.
Over the years, he has tried to model a few notable Cardinals safeties from over the years.
“One player on the team is Budda Baker for his physicality at safety,” he told reporters after he was drafted by the Cardinals.
Baker, of course, will now be his teammate. He recently compared the opportunity to play alongside Baker to meeting and then working with a celebrity.
He also mentioned a pair of former Cardinals, one who is still in the league.
“The ‘Honey Badger’ (Tyrann Mathieu) because he’s a ball hawk,” Wiggins said. Mathieu was originally drafted by the Cardinals and played five years for Arizona. He is now on the Kansas City Chiefs. He has been an All-Pro the last two seasons.
His last former Cardinal he mentions goes back a while.
He mentioned Hall of Famer Ed Reed and also Antrel Rolle, “because he went to my high school.”
Rolle was a first-round pick of the Cardinals in 2005 as a cornerback but moved to safety and became a Pro Bowl player.
“Those are the players I try to mimic in my game and try to become a smarter player, to know and learn the system real fast, so I can have the opportunity to play.”
If he can be like any or all of them, the Cardinals will have landed a very nice player in the seventh round.
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