‘Never-too-early’ 2023 mock draft has Cardinals taking OT in Round 1

The Cardinals do not have a starting tackle under contract in 2023.

The Arizona Cardinals have not yet even begun the 2022 season and just barely wrapped up the 2022 NFL draft last weekend. But that doesn’t mean we can’t look ahead to the 2023 NFL draft.

Draft Wire managing editor Luke Easterling already released a “never-too-early” mock draft for the first round of the 2023 draft. It serves as a look at the potential top prospects for next year.

In these projections, the Cardinals have the 19th pick in the round and select Miami offensive tackle Zion Nelson.

Improving the protection around Kyler Murray should be a top priority for Arizona, particularly at right tackle. Nelson could have been a fairly early pick in this year’s draft, but another year of improvement should have him prepared to be a franchise tackle at the next level.

A tackle would make sense. As of now, both D.J. Humphries and Kelvin Beachum will be free agents. They have Josh Jones, but we don’t know if he is in the team’s future plans.

Protecting Kyler Murray will continue to be critical and using a first-round pick on an offensive lineman would be the first time since 2015 they have done that.

It would appear we need to keep an eye on Nelson to see if he ends up being a dominant player in 2022.

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