Super early 2021 mock draft has Cardinals landing another LB in 1st round

They land top Penn State LB prospect Micah Parsons in Draft Wire’s way-too-early mock draft for next year.

The 2020 NFL Draft concluded a week ago and NFL teams filled out their offseason rosters. But we already have mock drafts for the 2021 draft. It is super premature but it gives us an idea of who might be top prospects after the coming college football season.

Draft Wire managing editor Luke Easterling put together his first mock draft for next year. For the draft order, he used the latest Super Bowl odds to determine it.

In this mock draft, where do the Cardinals select and who is their pick?

They have the 12th pick in the draft based on Super Bowl odds and select Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons.

Parsons is expected to be one of the very best linebackers in the class and one of the best prospects in many years.

He is 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds. He had 109 tackles, five sacks, 14 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles in 2019.

He should be even better in 2020. This is an interesting pick because it would mean the Cardinals draft an off-the-ball linebacker for the second year in a row in the first round and the fourth time general manager Steve Keim would have done so, including Deone Bucannon in 2014 and Haason Reddick in 2017. Both players were converted to linebacker after going to the NFL.

Of course, current starting linebacker Jordan Hicks will be entering the third year of a four-year contract and De’Vondre Campbell will be a free agent. Parsons and 2020 first-round pick Isaiah Simmons could be a dynamic pairing at linebacker for the future.

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Ep. 266

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Ep.265

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