We all love a good mock draft, right? Perhaps the most faithful of readers here will tire of the projections, especially when they tend to key on certain players, but when ESPN's Todd McShay publishes a new mock draft, the eyeballs come and the opinions do to.
McShay has a new mock draft and he has the Arizona Cardinals getting who might be the fans' biggest hope -- a guy who could be an elite pass rusher.
Joey Bosa goes number one overall and Jared Goff comes off the board right after that, landing with the Cleveland Browns, but the Cardinals get Eastern Kentucky's Noah Spence.
Spence tore it up at the Senior Bowl, displaying natural speed and athleticism off the edge. He might be the best pure pass-rusher in this draft. He's a top-15 talent -- until you factor in his off-field issues. A former top recruit, Spence was suspended twice at Ohio State for using Ecstasy, before transferring to Eastern Kentucky in 2015. Teams will really have to do their homework on Spence, because you can't teach his type of quickness.
This seems like a pipe dream, right?
It probably is.
The way people are talking about Spence these days makes me think he could go in the top 10 because of the talent he has. And if his off-the-field stuff is such an issue, even if he falls to the Cardinals, are we sure he is a good pick? The team has already been burned by Daryl Washington.
At the same time, when Shane Ray had concerns off the field, the Cardinals still had him targeted allegedly (many say it was Bud Dupree they were after last year, but I have heard through a couple of channels it was really Ray they were upset about getting drafted before their pick).
Would there be a better pick than Spence?