Friday Funday: 2020 NFL Mock Draft gets defensive line help for the Arizona Cardinals

Happy Friday one and all.

The Arizona Cardinals and the rest of the NFL prepare for the 2020 NFL Combine, the NFL Mock Draft train continues to roll.

For the Arizona Cardinals, a different player and position was finally mocked this week, as long-time NFL front office guy Charley Casserly dropped his first 2020 NFL Mock Draft of the season.

8. Arizona Cardinal: Javon Kinlaw - DL

School: South Carolina | Year: Senior

Arizona has needs at OLB and DT. At this point, Kinlaw is the best player available at either of those two positions.

Casserly correctly asserts the Cardinals need on defense, but his colleague paints an interesting picture.

From Lance Zierlein:

He got his body into shape after arriving in Columbia, though, shedding 40 pounds so he could contribute in all 13 games as a sophomore for the Gamecocks (20 tackles, two for loss, three pass breakups, one blocked kick, 10 starts). Kinlaw started 12 games in 2018, sharing the team’s Defensive MVP award (38 tackles, 10 for loss, 4.5 sacks, five pass breakups). He missed the Belk Bowl, however, as he recovered from hip surgery. Kinlaw reached his potential as a senior, earning first-team Associated Press All-America and first-team All-SEC honors even though his defensive production (35 tackles, six sacks in 12 starts) did not exactly match how dominant he was at times.

Kinlaw has been a very good at South Carolina, but there are two big red flags for me.

At 6-5 315lbs, Kinlaw is in perfect shape, but he has already shown to struggle with his weight in college. The second is something I always worry about with big guys and that is lower body surgeries.

Kinlaw had a torn hip labrum that required surgery, which is a concern.

Kinlaw has shown some special ability on the field, how would you feel about him at eight?