A couple of simulations provided strikingly different results for pick 72 for the Cards.
One of the most fascinating parts of the NFL Draft might be Day 2, as sometimes players have fallen out of the first round, and teams waiting at the top of Round 2 snatch them up.
This year, however, for Cardinals fans the excitement will be mitigated since Arizona will not pick (barring a trade up or down) until pick 72. Cardinals fans can rejoice at pick 40 however, knowing that this bought them the rights to DeAndre Hopkins.
Given the lack of picks this year for the Cardinals, who have only six in the entire draft, a trade up seems unlikely unless a player with a solid Round 1 grade for them falls to the end of Round 2 or top of Round 3.
In the meantime, I ran through Day 2 on the Draft Network’s Mock Draft Machine to see who was available at pick 72 for Arizona – here are the top 10 players according to their board:
S Jeremy Chinn, S Kyle Dugger, S Ashtyn Davis, WR Tee Higgins, IDL Raekwon Davis, IDL Davon Hamilton, EDGE Curtis Weaver, TE Cole Kmet, RB/WR Antonio Gibson, EDGE Julian Okwara
In this simulation, any of these players could fill a potential need for Arizona, although the 3 safeties seem not needed. Getting defensive line help would seem like the best fit here, so that narrowed the pick down to Davis, Hamilton, Weaver, and Okwara.
For those wondering, the highest 2 offensive tackles left were Prince Tega Wanogho and Matthew Peart.
In the end, Weaver was the pick, with Edge being a more premium position, but in reality, any of the last seven on the list would make some sense for Arizona.
I also ran the mock draft simulator over at PFF to see what the 10 players could be left according to their board, and had quite a different, and potentially more exciting outcome for Cardinals fans:
RB DeAndre Swift, RB Jonathan Taylor, G Jonah Jackson, EDGE Terrell Lewis, RB JK Dobbins, TE Cole Kmet, CB Troy Pride, S Terrell Burgess, EDGE Darrell Taylor, IDL Davon Hamilton
It would be surprising to see Arizona pass on a running back if this is the way the board fell, although they could potentially trade back in this scenario, given that it’s highly unlikely that Swift, Taylor and Dobbins all fall to pick 72.
The pick here might be one of them, although Hamilton, Lewis and Taylor would all make sense to fortify the defensive line. In the end, the pick was Swift as the top rated running back (no teams wanted to trade up).
What are your thoughts Cardinals fans? Would any of these players make Day 2 a success for Arizona?
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Ep.265
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Ep. 264
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