NFL NFL Draft – Syndication Server

Teams interested in DeAndre Hopkins want Cardinals to help with salary

Interested teams will want the Cardinals to help pay Hopkins’ more than $19 million salary.

The Arizona Cardinals have made wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins available for a trade and the belief is that something will get done by the draft or during the draft.

His salary keeps being a sticking point.

He is due to make more than $19 million in salary in 2023. That isn’t too bad for a top receiver, but interested teams don’t want to pay that full amount.

According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, “interested teams have wanted Arizona to pay a portion of his $19.45 million salary.”

Because of prorated cap hits to bonuses and restructures, the Cardinals will only get about $8 million in cap relief if they pay none of the salary for this coming season.

So you can see why the Cardinals would be reluctant to pay anything.

If they have to pay even $5 million of the salary this year, they get only $3 million in cap relief.

Saving $3 million with no Hopkins on the roster makes little sense. Saving more than $8 million helps a little more.

Ultimately, a team like the Chiefs, Bills or Ravens, who need to add receiver help, will likely pay up but it might not cost them as much in draft capital than the Cardinals might be seeking.

But keep an eye on the news on Thursday or Friday. A deal is likely coming.

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Cardinals take defensive players with 3 of 4 picks in 3-round mock draft

The Cardinals pick up two pass rushers, a defensive tackle and an offensive lineman in Touchdown Wire’s latest 3-round mock draft.

The NFL draft is a little more than three weeks away and we continue to get a number of scenarios playing out in mock drafts.

A new three-round mock draft by Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar has the Arizona Cardinals going heavy on defense.

In fact, with the four picks the Cardinals have in the first three rounds, their first three are all defensive players and the last is an offensive lineman.

The picks are below:

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LOOK: Results to latest 7-round Cardinals mock draft simulation

Check out the latest mock draft for the Cardinals.

On Saturday, we ran another seven-round mock draft simulation for the Arizona Cardinals. They stayed put in the first round but traded down in the second round. They landed a top pass rusher a center who could start as a rookie and selected a total of 10 players.

Check out the results below.

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NFL draft prospect DL Jalen Carter has warrant for role in deadly crash

Carter leaves the combine to deal with charges of racing and reckless driving in January.

Things might just have gotten a little interesting with the first few picks of the NFL draft. Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter, projected to be drafted as high as first overall, has some legal problems.

Wednesday morning, just before he was scheduled to meet with the media at the NFL combine, a report from The Athletic’s Seth Emerson revealed that the Athens-Clarke County Police Department had secured a warrant for Carter’s arrest in connection with a fatal car accident that took the life of a teammate and Georgia staffer.

There are two misdemeanor charges of racing and reckless driving.

Carter had already had some team interviews but did not end up meeting with reporters. He left the combine to return to Georgia.

This is obviously bad timing. Carter is the top-rated draft prospect by multiple analysts. He certainly could be in play for the Arizona Cardinals with the third overall pick in the draft.

He promises he will be exonerated from any wrongdoing.

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Cardinals lock up No. 3 pick in 2023 draft with loss, Broncos’ win

With the Cardinals’ loss to the 49ers and the Broncos’ win over the Chargers, Arizona will have the third pick in the 2023 draft.

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The Arizona Cardinals have a top-three pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

Entering Week 18, they had the No. 4 overall pick but were tied with the Denver Broncos with 4-12 records.

The Cardinals lost to the San Francisco 49ers 38-13 in Week 18 and the Broncos beat the playoff-bound Los Angeles Chargers 31-28.

With the win, they finish 5-12 and the Cardinals end 4-13.

The Chicago Bears, finishing 3-14, ended up with the No. 1 overall pick. The Houston Texans ended the season 3-13-1.

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Cardinals slammed for draft class, get D from USA TODAY

USA TODAY’s Nate Davis questions the Marquise Brown trade and give the Cardinals a D for their work in the draft this year.

The Arizona Cardinals have had some pretty good reviews for the draft class they put together last weekend. They used their first-round pick to acquire receiver Hollywood Brown and then made eight other selections, including three pass rushers, two offensive linemen, a running back and a dynamic tight end.

Their grades have mostly been consistently a B for their work in the draft.

However, USA TODAY’s Nate Davis is not a fan. He gave the Cardinals one of the worst marks in the league in his draft grades.

He gave the Cardinals a D.

Mackey Award-winning TE Trey McBride (Round 2) is a sweet player, but are the Cards suddenly going base double-tight after re-signing Zach Ertz for three more years? But far more head-scratching was sacrificing their first-round pick to get “Hollywood” Brown, a teammate of QB Kyler Murray at Oklahoma, both former Sooners heading into their fourth seasons. Brown has scary speed and maybe didn’t get to showcase it enough on a Baltimore offense that wanted to run the ball. But hard to believe that GM Steve Keim didn’t severely overpay – especially since he’ll also presumably be on the hook for extensions for Brown and Murray any minute.

The McBride pick was odd, but not when you consider that Maxx Williams might not be ready to start the season. And now, with the suspension of receiver DeAndre Hopkins, having as many pass-catching weapons as possible is going to be needed.

We can expect to see plenty of both Ertz and McBride on the field.

How was the Brown trade overpaying? He is a perfect fit in the Arizona offense, had a 1,000-yard season in a bad offense for receivers and is cost-controlled for two seasons.

The Philadelphia Eagles had to give up two picks for A.J. Brown and then ink him to a four-year, $100 million deal.

Brown gives the Cardinals what they need in their offense and “is just scratching the surface.”

They added a necessary pass rusher in the third round and depth late in the draft in the sixth and seventh rounds.

This was not a super exciting draft like the New York Jets had, since they made three selections in the first round, but it was solid, considering the picks they made.

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Cardinals met virtually with North Dakota OT Matt Waletzko

Waletzko is 6-7, has 36-inch arms and ran the 40 in 5.03 seconds at the combine.

The Arizona Cardinals have met with many prospects in the NFL draft. They have had interviews at the NFL combine, private workouts, official visits to the team facility and even virtual meetings.

One player they have met with virtually is North Dakota tackle Matt Waletzko, according to The Draft Network’s Justin Melo. Waletzko has met virtually with the Cardinals and at least four other teams.

Waletzko played last tackle for North Dakota and had starting experience as a freshman. He battled injuries in 2019 and 2020 but bounced back this last season.

He played in the Senior Bowl and was impressive at the combine.

He is a long 6-7 and 305 lbs. he has long 36-inch arms and ran the 40 at the combine in 5.03 seconds.

He needs to get strong but has a frame to be successful in the NFL at tackle.

With five selections in the final two rounds of the draft and the tradition of drafting offensive linemen on Day 3, he could be a name to watch.

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Kelvin Beachum to announce Cardinals’ Day 2 draft picks

He is the first current player the Cardinals have had to announce their Day 2 selections.

The NFL has a running tradition of having current and former player make the announcement of selections in the second and third rounds of the NFL draft. That tradition will continue in next week’s draft and the league announced who will be making those announcements.

For the first time, the Arizona Cardinals will have a current player make the announcement rather than a former player. In the past, players like Aeneas Williams, Karlos Dansby and Deuce Lutui have made the announcement.

This year, it will be starting right tackle Kelvin Beachum, who re-signed with the Cardinals this offseason to a two-year contract.

Beachum signed with the Cardinals last offseason before training camp and played every snap of the 2020 season. He became a leader in the locker room and has been championing social justice off the field.

As of now, the Cardinals have only a second-round pick on Day 2. They do not have a third-round pick.

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CB prospect Caleb Farley clarifies situation with back injury

Virginia Tech CB prospect Caleb Farley recently had a second back procedure. He explains that it isn’t something teams should worry about.

Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley is arguably the best cornerback in this year’s draft class. He is a consensus top-three corner with Alabama’s Patrick Surtain and South Carolina’s Jaycee Horn. However, he recently had a minor procedure on his back, which has many projecting he could slide in the draft a little. Instead of being a top-10 pick, some feel he could drop to the bottom third of the first round or at least to where the Arizona Cardinals select at No. 16.

Some raise red flags because it is his second procedure.

Back injuries can be tricky. He explained the situation when he spoke with the media at his pro day, and it makes things seem a lot less of an issue.

Farley’s issue was not a football injury. It happened from working out.

“It’s an original deadlift injury that had herniated my L5 disc and bulged my S1. I chose to move forward and do the discectomy on the L5 herniation, which gave me immediate relief after,” he explained.

The plan was to let the S1 heal on its own.

“I did a great job managing over a year but that bulge is still in my S1 and, unfortunately, I irritated it a month ago,” he explained.

That caused him to cut down on his training and still planned on doing all the drills at his pro day and “put up some crazy numbers.”

However, he was advised to take care of it now so he could be ready for training camp and the regular season.

“It was not a reoccurring disk or anything like that,” he said. “What I had previously worked on is still intact. It was great news. I’m actually excited about this.”

He probably should have had both taken care of the first time. The fact that his first procedure was still good should be viewed as good news.

Considering his injury didn’t come from the football field and the most recent procedure was to remedy something that just wasn’t taken care of initially, teams like the Cardinals should feel more comfortable about his potential to be fine and productive in 2021.

It sounds like, if he is on the board when the Cardinals make their selection at No. 16, they shouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

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2020 NFL Draft: Winners, losers of 1st round

See who won big and who was left wanting after the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft

The first round of the 2020 NFL Draft is in the books, and this year’s virtual event got off to a fantastic start for some, while for others it wasn’t exactly a night to remember.

Here are our picks for the biggest winners and losers from Thursday night’s action:

Winner: Denver Broncos

There were discussions that the Broncos would have to trade up to select a wide receiver in the first round. It turns out that they were able to stay put and take a potentially dangerous weapon in Jerry Jeudy alongside Courtland Sutton.

Jeudy is a masterful route runner with quick-twitched athleticism, sharpness in his cuts and incredible intelligence to create separation. He will bring a fantastic complement to Sutton, as Jeudy will bring the speed to the wide receiver position, while Sutton already brings top-notch ball skills and physicality to the table.

It appears that the Broncos are planning on building around 2019 second-round pick Drew Lock, and selecting a player like Jeudy gives their young quarterback a talented weapon who should step in and make an impact from Day 1.

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