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The Arizona Cardinals are pretty far removed from their olden days. Once the laughing stock of the NFL, Arizona has turned into a destination for many free agents that simply want to come here to play football. The team made an NFC Championship run just 2 seasons ago and things are still looking up with young stars like Patrick Peterson and David Johnson.
What hasn't left with the bad days are some of the frames of thinking that many fans still have pertaining to the Cardinals. One of those mindsets is that the Cardinals need to get a day one impact player in the first round of the NFL Draft.
When the team was scarce of talent at nearly every single position, getting a guy that could come in right away and contribute was paramount. Such was the case in 2011 when Patrick Peterson was selected with the fifth overall pick. The team was devoid of cornerbacks and Peterson almost instantaneously became the best secondary player on the roster.
This type of thinking should no longer exist. Are there holes on the roster? Of course! Name me a single team in the entire NFL that doesn't have some positions that they would like to upgrade or get younger at. Every team has holes that they like to fill with first round talent that can make their team better either immediately or in the near future.
But given where the Cardinals are now, they can afford two things: they can take a guy that won't start right away and they can afford to take a risk on someone with a low floor but a high ceiling. Maybe that guy is a quarterback. Maybe it's an athletic corner that can start opposite of Peterson somewhere down the line. It could be a wide receiver that ends up the perfect successor to Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald.
The point is that the Cardinals have flexibility. This may be a big year where they feel like they need to win now with some of their aging stars, but they can afford to go into the season with this exact roster and not need an immediate impact guy from the draft.