With the Arizona Cardinals’ season over, as they failed to qualify for the postseason, it is NFL draft season and the beginning of a focus on mock drafts.
The Cardinals have the 16th pick in the 2021 draft.
ESPN’s Todd McShay released a new early mock draft and the Cardinals land one of the most exciting players in the draft at a position that has question marks.
He has the Cardinals taking Clemson stud running back Travis Etienne.
Etienne is a home run hitter with fantastic contact balance and improving pass-catching ability. The Cardinals’ rushing offense was top 10 in yards per game in 2020, but much of that was from quarterback Kyler Murray, who accounted for more than a third of the team’s gains on the ground. Arizona’s running backs had the 19th-best yards per carry (4.16), and lead back Kenyan Drake played the season on a transition tag — and he isn’t under contract for 2021. Etienne would join Murray and DeAndre Hopkins in what would be one of the league’s most dangerous offenses.
Drake is likely going to land elsewhere. Etienne would be a dynamic addition to the offense and allow Chase Edmonds to continue in the role he currently has.
Etienne has had at least 1,500 scrimmage yards in each of the last three season.
He would be a very good fit and, with Murray and Hopkin, give the Cardinals a top-tier offensive trio.
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