Patrick Peterson Was 5th On Cardinals' Draft Board

We are now sitting and basking in the afterglow that was the selection of Patrick Peterson and enjoying the fact that the Cardinals selected the "best player available" with the fifth pick in the 2011 NFL Draft and not reaching for a player. However, there was a tweet that revealed something surprising about where he was ranked on their war room draft board.

Mike Jurecki tweeted that Peterson was ranked fifth on their draft board. What does that mean?

If you look at it thinking that it would make sense that the Cardinals would not have passed on a player they ranked high, it means that players 1-4 were all selected in the first four picks. We don't know the order, but we can probably assume this -- that had Cameron Newton somehow fallen to number five, he would now be an Arizona Cardinal.

Can you imagine that? Now, while I was not against Newton as a quarterback, I didn't want to see a QB picked at number five. I think Newton will be very good. But I get the feeling that there would have been fan mutiny had Newton been selected by Ken Whisenhunt and the Cardinals.

Thankfully, Peterson was the pick instead. We will never have to know the other possibility.