NFL mock draft 2013: Arizona take a Chance (Warmack) for a guard

With the NFL Draft on Thursday, all indications are that the Arizona Cardinals would prefer to draft an offensive tackle with the seventh overall pick. However, with more and more projections seeing all three major prospects (Luke Joeckel, Eric Fisher, Lane Johnson) unavailable by the time the Cards' pick rolls around, it has looked like Arizona will look elsewhere.

According to SB Nation's Dan Kadar, Arizona will look elsewhere, but it won't be because the tackles are unavailable.

According to his final mock draft, the Cards have Oklahoma tackle Lane Johnson on the board but choose instead to select Alabama guard Chance Warmack.

"Cardinals general manager Steve Keim seems to like his team's offensive tackles quite a lot," writes Kadar. "He may not be so fond of the guards on his roster. Warmack would be an immediate contributor on the offensive line."

Based on comments we have heard from head coach Bruce Arians, it sounds like he is good with Levi Brown and Bobby Massie at tackles. He has said that he believes that Massie could play guard, but one would think that with the progress he made in the second half of last season, moving him might make things a bit more complicated at least to start if the team drafted and started a tackle. Drafting Warmack and plugging him in would directly improve the guard play, which was one of the problems a season ago.

There are many here in our community that have been clamoring for Warmack, while many say that you just don't draft a guard that high because quality guards can consistently be found in later rounds.

However, based on what has been said about Warmack, even if you would rather a tackle or a pass rusher, it would be hard to be upset and this pick.

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