The 2023 NFL draft is still nearly a year away and the 2022 college football season has not even begun. However, there are already very early 2023 mock drafts.
Why?
It is mostly to project who the best players in college football are going to be and what needs NFL teams will have after this coming season.
Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield put together such a mock draft.
He has the Arizona Cardinals selecting former LSU and now Alabama cornerback Eli Ricks.
While many observers believed the Arizona Cardinals would address their secondary early in the 2022 NFL draft, the Cardinals added to their defensive front in the third round, using a pair of selections to address that unit. Arizona drafted Myjai Sanders and Cameron Thomas, giving them options at that level of the defense.
And while Arizona did draft cornerback Christian Matthew in the seventh round, finding a cornerback early in the 2023 cycle might be a wise investment. Eli Ricks played in just six games last season, as his year was cut short due to a shoulder injury that required surgery. Even in limited action, Ricks managed to tally 11 total tackles and an interception.
He announced that he would be transferring last winter, and decided to play for Nick Saban at Alabama for the year ahead. He shows great awareness on the field, as he did on this interception against Florida from his stellar true freshman season.
The Cardinals have the 17th pick in this mock draft. That would mean missing the playoffs, which would not be a good thing.
Good cornerbacks are hard to sign to second contracts because of how expensive they get. Landing a premier cover guy in the first round certainly makes sense.
We will see how Ricks does with the Crimson Tide in the fall.
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