Red vs. White Scrimmage: Drafting the Cardinals’ roster into 2 teams

Seth Cox (Red) and I (White) conducted a draft of the Cardinals’ players on offense and defense, in the attempt to create a highly competitive inter-squad scrimmage — here are the results (we picked offense first and I had the first pick. Seth then had the first pick on defense).

Here are the results of our Cardinals vs Cardinals draft.

Offense---Picks

1. White (WM)---RB David Johnson

2. Red (SC)---WR Larry Fitzgerald

3. White---QB Josh Rosen

4. Red---QB Sam Bradford

5. White---LT D.J. Humphries

6. Red---WR Christian Kirk

7. White---RG Justin Pugh

8. Red---WR Chad Williams

9. White---TE Ricky Seals-Jones

10. Red---C Mason Cole

11. White---LG Mike Iupati

12. Red---LG Evan Boehm

13. White---RT John Wetzel

14. Red---LT Will Holden

15. White---FB Derrick Coleman

16. Red---RT Andre Smith

17. White---C A.Q. Shipley

18. Red---RG Daniel Munyer

19. White---WR Brice Butler

20. Red---RB Chase Edmonds

21. White---WR J.J. Nelson

22. Red---TE Jermaine Gresham

23. White---Slot WR T.J. Logan

24. Red---FB Elijhaa Penny

Defense---Picks:

1. Red (SC)---DE Chandler Jones

2. White (WM)---SS Budda Baker

3. Red---CB Patrick Peterson

4. White---DT Olsen Pierre

5. Red---OLB Haason Reddick

6. White---DT Robert Nkemdiche

7. Red---DE Markus Golden

8. White---MLB Josh Bynes

9. Red---DT Corey Peters

10. White---FS Antoine Bethea

11. Red---CB Jamar Taylor

12. White---DE Benson Mayowa

13. Red---NCB Bene Benwikere

14. White---OLB Jeremy Cash

15. Red---DT Rodney Gunter

16. White---CB Chris Campbell

17. Red---FS Rudy Ford

18. White---CB Deatrich Nichols

19. Red---MLB Scooby Wright

20. White---OLB Deone Bucannon

21. Red---OLB Bryson Albright

22. White---NCB Tavierre Thomas

23. Red---SS A.J. Howard

24. White---DE Alec James

White Offense versus Red Defense:

QB Rosen RDE Jones

RB Johnson RDT Gunter

FB Coleman LDT Peters

TE Seals-Jones LDE Golden

LT Humphries WLB Reddick

LG Iupati MLB Wright

C Shipley SLB Albright

RG Pugh RCB Taylor

RT Wetzel SS Howard

WR1 Butler FS Ford

WR2 Nelson LCB Peterson

WR3 Logan NCB Benwikere

Strategy: (Mitch)

I think the weakness of this defense is over the middle. The defense’s strength is on the outside. I believe our strength is up front between the tackles and in a young QB who can exploit the middle. Therefore, I would double team a DT and run isolation blocks for RB David Johnson with FB Derrick Coleman on MLB Scooby Wright and DEs Chandler Jones and Markus Golden, while mixing in play action passes over the middle from QB josh Rosen to TE Ricky Seals-Jones, slot WR T.J. Logan and RB David Johnson to test MLB Scooby Wright, SS A.J. Howard and FS Rudy Ford. If we can influence the safeties to bite inside, then we can try to slip WRs Brice Butler and J.J. Nelson deep over the middle on post routes. We also want to test OLB Bryson Albright with flare, flat and circle passes to David Johnson.

Red Offense versus White Defense:

QB Bradford RDE Mayowa

RB Edmonds RDT Pierre

FB Penny LDT Nkemdiche

TE Gresham LDE James

LT Holden WLB Bucannon

LG Boehm MLB Bynes

C Cole SLB Cash

RG Munyer RCB Nichols

RT Smith SS Baker

WR1 Fitzgerald FS Bethea

WR2 Kirk LCB Campbell

WR3 Williams NCB Thomas

Strategy (Seth):

The key to any good offense is understanding where your strengths lie. Drafting to have a dominant, quick passing game was the key because let’s face it, the offensive line pickings were slim. Instead, we look to focus on the yards after the catch with Kirk, Williams and the always reliable Fitz.

We also have strong pass catching in Chase Edmonds, which will help negate the strengths of the defense for Walt with the interior pass rush.

With Bradford’s accuracy and the athletes, the dink and dunk down the field approach will be key to keep the athletes Walt possesses from overwhelming what is obviously a weaker offense line.

Surprises?

Offense:

· Mitch choosing Rosen over Bradford

· Seth taking top WRs before any OL

· Mitch taking TE Seals-Jones before any WR

· Seth’s first OL: C Mason Cole

· Mitch taking Logan to play the slot

· Seth taking WR Chad Williams with the 8^th pick

Defense:

· Mitch taking Baker over Peterson

· Seth nabbing the starting CBs, Mitch the starting Ss

· Mitch taking OLB Cash before Bucannon---and Bucannon slipping to #20

· Seth converting Bryson Albright to SAM OLB.

· Not selected: CB Brandon Williams

Where did we go right and where did we go wrong?

What we learned:

Mitch: I tried to apply the Bill Parcells’ philosophy of building a team from the inside out. It’s hard, though, to pass on skill players you like. My defense is going to have a heck of a time covering Fitz, Kirk and Williams with Bradford at QB. Our best hope is for Pierre and Nkemdiche to collapse the pocket quickly. This is why I wanted to get the two best penetrators and inside pass rushers on my defense. I think that being able to rush from the inside is paramount to success in the NFL. I am also of the mindset that in today’s NFL the safeties are the keys to defensive success. On offense, seeing as I wanted to attack the middle of the defense, I went with Josh Rosen. I think he has a special ability to exploit mismatches over the middle. I had the luxury of being able to take RB David Johnson first, knowing that I would be just as happy with Rosen or Bradford at QB.

Seth: With Mitch having the first pick it became paramount to outflank him one way or the other. That meant with DJ going one, I couldn’t win the ground game, so the aerial attack was the key. It worked in theory, getting the best wide receivers for Sam Bradford’s style, getting the ball out quick, short and accurate.

I also was able to get a running back who should be able to help. Defensively, I focused on having a dominant edge, being able to fluster the rookie quarterback. Also, having the ability to matchup with David Johnson with Haason Reddick was a key. I know Deone can move too, but Reddick profiles more as to what Wilks and Al Holcomb want in their linebackers. Getting Jones and Golden as well as the top three corners was just gravy when you consider I was able to nab the best run stopping big in Peters.