The Arizona Cardinals have addressed two big needs early on the offseason. They agreed to a trade with the Houston Texans to acquire receiver DeAndre Hopkins, a legitimate No. 1 weapon in the passing game. They agreed to a three-year, $30 million contract with defensive lineman Jordan Phillips.
What does this mean for them as the NFL draft approaches next month?
With the eighth pick in the draft, does their strategy change?
It was largely believed the Cardinals would used the pick on a receiver or on a tackle.
With the addition of Hopkins, one would think that receiver might not be on the table, leaving tackle as the obvious choice.
That makes sense, especially with Christian Kirk, Andy Isabella, KeeSean Johnson and Hakeem Butler already on the roster. However, they very well still could take a receiver. It seems less likely, but it could happen. Johnson and Butler were both Day 3 picks last year. Perhaps Kirk or Isabella would have a trade market.
Another player the Cardinals could have interest in is Auburn defensive lineman Derrick Brown. Some might think that adding Phillips would preclude them from taking Brown.
Since Arizona still needs at least one more starting-caliber defensive lineman, Brown could be the pick still. Some believe Brown isn’t worth a top-10 pick, so he might be a real option.
That said, basically nothing has really changed with their first-round pick.
The most ideal pick would be their favorite tackle, but nothing is really off the table except for a quarterback.
That’s exactly how you would like it to be for the first round of the draft.
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Ep. 261
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Ep. 260
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