Why all the Early round MISSES and Late round HITS??

I would agree that the Cards have been good at finding talent late, but not that they have missed early all that often. You would need to compare the cards success in the first 3 rounds vs other teams if you wanted those numbers to really mean anything. There are plenty of busts in the first 3 rounds of every draft.
I would also object to your labeling of MANY of the players; Levi Brown has started 43 games at tackle and is our starting LT and he’s a “miss”? Even relative to his draft position I’d disagree. Kieth is a “hit” before he starts a single game? Alan Branch was a solid rotational player last year and will be again this year, and Rashad Johnson hasn’t stood out but has only had 1 year in the league. Calling anyone from this years draft class a hit or miss is way premature. Calvin obviously won’t be doing anything for us, but we traded him for a guy from the same draft picked in the same range, so that’s who you’d have to look at.
You jump to hit/miss conclusions way too early in some of these guys careers. The wealth of talent from late in the draft supports your idea that the cards are good at finding guys late, but I don’t see any support (at least in this post) for your argument that they are worse at drafting guys early. 2009 2nd rounder Cody Brown and 2007 3rd rounder Buster Davis are the only bonafide busts out of 12 picks, and by the end of the season at least 5 of those guys are likely to be starters (if the top 2 choices this year are starting), and maybe 6 if Beanie takes the starting RB gig.

I haven’t analyzed every teams roster, but I don’t think it is unique to the Cardinals. High draft picks come in and get a huge sum of money up front. Where’s the motivation? The high paid players aren’t playing for the love of the game, they are not playing for their next contracrt. They are playing to not get hurt. The lower drafted and non players have to prove themselves to stick around. The whole system is out of whack if high profile rookies got played less up front, they would be far more inspired to become better football players. Every team in the league has had can’t miss players that were busts and unknowns that have become stars. The Cardinals especially under Whiz are going to play the players who have proven themselves and have a strong desire to succeed. A team’s measure of success is in the wins and losses column, something the Cards have done well with the the last few years. Draft day descions have an impact on the season but it is not the measuring stick. The draft is a means to acquire bodies, and is an inexact science. ESPN makes every drafted player out to be the second coming, and exactly what the team needs. It is Hollywood it is entertainment. Jobs are won and lost in the weight room, on the practice field some of it is fitting the jigsaw pieces together in the confines of the salary cap or teams budget. Things might have been different with Cody Brown if he didn’t get injured. Who knew Herman Johnson would come into his second camp out of shape. Leinart came in this season with a sense of entitlement. Without proving his worth, no one is entitled to play. If the Cardinals return to the playoffs, I will judge this offseason a success. If we win 5 games, then maybe things were done wrong and reevaluate the process for the future. I would rather have 53 guys who fought to be where they are than 10 princesses who had it handed to them.