There is no trade in Round 1 and they project three defensive players with the Cardinals’ first four selections.
With the NFL draft coming next Thursday, Draft Wire released a new three-round mock draft. While most have the Arizona Cardinals trading out of the third overall pick, these projections do not.
They take three defensive players with the four selections they have in the first three rounds.
Who do they get?
Round 1: Alabama EDGE Will Anderson Jr.
Round 2: TCU OL Steve Avila
Round 3: Kansas State CB Julius Brents
Round 3 (compensatory): LSU DL Jaquelin Roy
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What do you think of the selections? What grade do they deserve for the Cardinals’ picks?
What grade would you give the Cardinals for this year’s NFL draft class?
The 2022 NFL draft has finally concluded, with teams now looking to add the best remaining undrafted free agents. The Cardinals drafted eight total players, but acquired nine including the trade for Hollywood Brown.
The Cards went offense early, drafting their first player in the second round in tight end Trey McBride. They followed up with back-to-back edge rushers in hopes that at least one can help fill the void from Chandler Jones’ departure.
For the sake of this poll, we’re including Brown as part of the draft class since he was essentially their first round pick.
Here’s a look at the entire Cardinals draft class with that in mind:
What are your thoughts on the Cardinals drafting Cameron Thomas with the 87th overall pick in the draft? Vote in the poll!
The Arizona Cardinals finally addressed the edge rusher position by way of two third round selections in the 2022 NFL Draft. The first, San Diego State’s Cameron Thomas, was selected 87th overall.
The 6-foot-4 edge rusher had 20.5 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks during his final season with the Aztecs. According to Pro Football Focus, Thomas had 77 pressures in just last season, which was second amongst FBS edge rushers.
Thomas is a pro-ready player who should be able to contribute this season. The Cardinals have yet to add a big name edge rusher following the loss of Chandler Jones, so Thomas will certainly have his opportunities to play early and often.
What do you think of the Cardinals’ selection? Vote in the poll and sound off in the comment section.
Here’s a look at the remaining draft picks for the Cardinals and what they might do with those picks.
The NFL draft will begin its third and final day Saturday at noon ET (9 a.m. Arizona time). The Arizona Cardinals, who have traded many of their Day 3 picks in recent trades, do not have a lot of draft capital left.
The Cards sent this year’s fourth-round pick in a trade up for cornerback Marco Wilson last year. They also packaged their fifth-round pick in their midseason acquisition of tight end Zach Ertz. While the team certainly doesn’t regret losing those picks to acquire two starters, they are likely going to be limited on what they can do on day three.
So far, the Cardinals have added two playmakers in Marquise Brown and Trey McBride. They added two edge rushers in the third round, with the hope that at least one of them can help fill the void from the loss of Chandler Jones to the Raiders.
The team would be wise to look into adding to the cornerback room. It was a point of weakness down the stretch last season, and while they’ve added former first-rounder Jeff Gladney, they would be wise to add another young defensive back.
Another position to take a swing on with those late picks would be the offensive line. Four of the five positions are set as of now but right guard certainly remains a mystery. Throwing another draft pick into the mix would be good for competition come training camp.
With that in mind, here are the remaining draft picks the Cardinals have going into day three:
What are your thoughts on the Cardinals’ second-round selection of tight end Trey McBride? Vote in the poll!
In what is certainly a rather stunning move, the Arizona Cardinals selected tight end Trey Mcbride with the 55th overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft. McBride is the consensus No. 1-ranked tight end in this year’s class, as he’s coming off a season with 90 receptions and 1,121 yards. He ran a 4.54-second 40 at his Pro Day.
The Cardinals just re-signed tight end Zach Ertz to a three-year extension last month. They also re-signed Maxx Williams, who prior to injury was playing the best football of his career. It’s certainly a surprising move given the quality of players at the position, but general manager Steve Keim has always maintained the idea of taking the best player available, regardless of position.
Many thought the Cardinals should have addressed edge rusher or cornerback with this pick, or even traded up with their additional third-rounder from Baltimore. Nevertheless, McBride is an electric player who makes the Cardinals offense even better than it already is.
What do you think of the pick? Vote in the poll and give your thoughts in the comment section below the article.
Take a look at the best and worst case scenarios for the Cardinals, who sit at pick No. 23, in tonight’s draft.
The first round of the NFL draft begins this evening at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. Arizona time). Many league executives consider this draft to be one of the bigger mysteries, whereas the past two drafts have been more on the predictable sides.
The Arizona Cardinals, who own the 23rd overall pick in the first round, are dependent on what other teams do since they sit at the later ends of the first round. While there are rumblings that the team will look to trade up for one of their top prospects, let’s assume they stay at No. 23 for right now.
Here are the best and worst case scenarios for pick No. 23.
Cardinals All-time great Aeneas Williams is set to announce the team’s second round pick this Friday
The Arizona Cardinals, as of right now, are set to pick at No. 55 in the second round of the NFL draft. Day 2 of the draft will be commence Friday at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. Arizona time).
Barring any trades of their second-round pick, Pro Football Hall of Fame member and Cardinals Ring of Honor member Aeneas Williams is set to announce the team’s second round selection.
It’s a trend that has become more popular in recent drafts, where teams send former and current players to announce their later round selections. Commissioner Roger Goodell will, of course, announce the Cardinals’ first round pick Thursday night.
NFL legends and active players will announce various selections in Las Vegas. Below is the list of players scheduled to make selections in Rounds 2 and 3 of this year’s NFL Draft: pic.twitter.com/4fuun3t4OB
This year, NFL teams are sending players currently on the roster to announce the picks more than they have in recent memory. For example, the likes of Aaron Jones, Chase Claypool, Cameron Jordan and Arik Armstead are all active players for their respective teams. Last year, the Cardinals had Kelvin Beachum announce the selection of Rondale Moore. It’s a cool way to have the players become more involved in the team’s special events.
Williams has announced picks for the Cardinals before. One of the notable selections he called was the 2018 second round selection of WR Christian Kirk.
Other Cardinals “legends” to announce Day 2 selections in years past are Deuce Lutui and Karlos Dansby.
The Cardinals recently worked out one of the top prospects in this year’s draft. Sitting at pick 23, however, it appears they could be exploring a trade up.
In 2011, the Arizona Cardinals selected a premier cornerback prospect out of Louisiana State University. Patrick Peterson, the fifth overall selection in that draft, is one of the best players in franchise history and will one day have his name etched into the stadium’s walls.
Sitting with the 23rd overall pick, it seems nearly impossible the team has any shot to land the star defensive back at their current position. However, being one of the nine teams to hold a workout with him certainly indicates a high level of interest.
For those that are unaware, the Cardinals were exploring a huge trade up in last year’s draft in Florida TE Kyle Pitts. There was a scenario in which he fell a few spots had Atlanta opted to select a quarterback with the fourth overall pick. A few sources had indicated the Cardinals’ interest in coming up.
This willingness to make a bold trade up for a prospect they covet could come into play here, albeit on a smaller scale. Stingley would likely need to fall out of the top ten for the Cards to consider a move up. With the team voicing their desire to extend cornerback Byron Murphy and faith in second-year pro Marco Wilson, it doesn’t seem like they’d mortgage the future for a cornerback prospect.
Stingley could end up falling due to a Lis Franc injury that limited him to only three games this season. That, and the rising draft stock of fellow cornerback prospects Ahmad ‘Sauce’ Gardner and Trent McDuffie could factor into Stingley sliding in the draft.
We will continue to explore possible draft day trades for the Cardinals as we get closer to the draft, but for now, there are a couple of important notes. First, the Cardinals do not pick until the sixth round following their third-round selection. They have used many of this year’s picks already (Ertz trade, Wilson trade up). Simply put, they don’t have a ton of draft capital without tapping into next year’s.
A trade up involving this year’s first (no. 23), third (no. 87) and a conditional 2023 first could get the Cardinals as high as pick No. 8. While that seems unlikely, they could move up that highly if they coveted a player like Stingley.
A more realistic scenario would be sliding up into the mid-teen range. Friday morning’s NFL.com mock draft 2.0 had Stingley falling as far as pick 16, which would be a very realistic striking range for the Cardinals. Pick 23 and 87 this year, with perhaps some additional smaller compensation from next year’s draft, would potentially be enough to slide up.
Think the Cardinals move up from 15 to 10 in the 2018 draft. They gave up a third-round pick and change to move up five spots, which is much higher than they’d be going up in this scenario.
There are two huge obstacles here. First, Stingley has to fall out of the top ten. Second, a team has to be willing to move back all the way to pick 23. Many teams won’t want to miss out on their top prospects going back that far.
Should the Cardinals be aggressive in their pursuit of the LSU standout? Or should they stay put and take best player available?
The Cardinals need to grab a corner early on, and they’re going to have their pick of several options. As others fight over the quarterbacks and offensive linemen, Arizona is able to sit back, wait, and get one of the top defensive backs on the board. Best of all, it’s such a deep draft at corner that they can grab one or two more later if …
Arizona might want to think about trading down. It only has six picks and just two before the fifth round and the 160th pick. There’s going to be a quarterback who slides, and it can load up on picks against someone desperate to grab that fifth of the top five quarterbacks – assuming one is there.
The Cardinals also need more help at receiver. DeAndre Hopkins can’t do it alone, but receiver might be a luxury grab at 16 considering how badly they need a corner. It’ll be a tough call, though – a top receiver will be there.
With the Dolphins rumored to be looking at trade down scenarios, does it make sense for the Cardinals to move up?
The 2021 NFL draft is nine days out and the rumors are flooding in. Many of them are deemed smoke or just purely non-factual, but people tend to pay a bit more attention when a report comes out from one of the best sports reporters in the business.
One recent report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport is that the Miami Dolphins could be open to making a third trade in the first round. They traded back from the third overall selection to the 12th pick and then moved up to the sixth overall pick.
They apparently can’t make up their mind on where they’d like to pick in this year’s draft, but this could be to the advantage of the Arizona Cardinals.
Originally reported by Arizona Sports 98.7’s John Gambadoro and also suggested by NFL Network’s Peter Schrager in two different mock drafts, Arizona is exploring options to trade up and Florida tight end Kyle Pitts is a potential target.
In order for this to happen, it’s quite possible four quarterbacks would have to go in the top five. The Cincinnati Bengals, who have the fifth overall pick, would likely need to not take LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase, and instead choose to protect second-year quarterback Joe Burrow, who is recovering from a torn ACL, with a top tackle prospect. This week’s rumors mill says the Bengals are locked in on Chase, but again, one must always take those with a grain of salt.
There is concern that the Dolphins may be looking to move back because they believe the top two pass catchers will be gone by pick No. 6. This would mean Kyle Pitts likely goes to Atlanta at fourth overall, and Chase going fifth. With those two off the board, a trade to six wouldn’t make sense for the Cardinals.
However, here is how a Cardinals-Dolphins trade could be viable.
Trevor Lawrence, JAX
Zach Wilson, NYJ
Mac Jones, SF
Justin Fields, ATL
Ja’Marr Chase, CIN
Kyle Pitts, ARI
It’s quite difficult to see the Dolphins’ dull offense from last season not opt to take Kyle Pitts in this situation, regardless of the trade package dealt by the Cardinals. But, in this instance, here is a projected trade based off trade values:
Arizona receives: No. 6 overall, used to select TE Kyle Pitts
Chances of Trade: Unlikely
The hard truth here is the Dolphins would be foolish to allow another team to jump them for Kyle Pitts given their offensive struggles last season. It would be a massive haul for the Cardinals to give up.
As of today, in my opinion, this is the most feasible opportunity for the Cardinals to acquire Kyle Pitts.
Trevor Lawrence, JAX
Zach Wilson, NYJ
Mac Jones, SF
Justin Fields, ATL
Penei Sewell, CIN
Ja’Marr Chase, MIA
Kyle Pitts, ARI (Trade with DET)
DET receives: No. 16 overall, 2022 first rounder, 2022 third rounder
