Sweet 16 for Cardinals in Rare Draft

How often does the NFL team with the #16 pick (smack dab in the middle of round 1) have the opportunity to draft the #1 prospect at the following positions?

RB — Najee Harris (pictured above) or Travis Etienne

Conventional TE —- Pat Freiermuth

G —- Alijah Vera-Tucker

C —- Landon Dickerson

RT —- Teven Jenkins

Slot WR —- Elijah Moore or Kadarius Toney

DT —- Christian Barmore

34 DE —-Levi Onwuzurike

34 SAM —- Jaelan Phillips or Azeez Ojalari

34 BANDIT —- Kwity Paye or Gregory Rousseau

34 MIKE —- Zaven Collins

34 WILL —- Jeremiah Owusu-Karamoah

Slot CB —- Trevon Moehrig

S —- Richie Grant or Andre Cisco

If one goes by Mel Kiper’s top 15 picks in his most recent mock draft, here are the positions that came off the board:

QB 1, QB 2, QB 3, QB 4, QB 5

TE 1

WR 1, WR 2, WR 3

T 1, T 2, T 3

ILB 1

CB 1, CB 2

Positions not taken: RB, conventional TE, G, C, DT, DE, OLB, WILB, S

Amazingly rare to have this many #1 prospects at their positions available at pick #16.

The Cardinals are going to be presented with an elaborate menu of top prospects.

There are so many directions they could take.

Because top prospects at their positions will still be on the board, the Cardinals may receive a few trade offers to move down in round 1 and pick up an extra pick or two. We know that Steve Keim has stated that he is more apt to move down than move up.

However, a trade offer would have to make a great deal of sense because of the superb choices the Cardinals will have right where they are at #16.

It is also a rare year, as we know, in the sense that teams have not been able to do the kinds of medical evaluations that they are accustomed to discerning at the Combine and during pre-draft visits. As a result, because of the number of superb options the Cardinals will have at #16, it’s probably not a good idea to select a player with a troubling history of injuries.

Hopefully, whomever the Cardinals select in the 1st round will be an NFL ready stud who they can plug in and play immediately.

Kyler Murray believes that his input this year could help to shape the selections. Kyler says that he’s excited to see which players the Cardinals select.

In terms of the depth at some of the key positions the Cardinals are hoping to address, it would appear to make sense that their 1st round pick will be an offensive player and that their 2nd round pick will be a CB. This is a deep draft at CB.

Last night in ESPN’s NFL Beat Writers’ mock draft, Josh Weinfuss selected CB Gregory Newsome II of Northwestern with the #16 pick. Newsome is an outstanding talent, but he’s missed a number of games the past two years because of injuries.

If the Cardinals select Newsome at #16, would that please you?

Or would it feel like a forced pick based on need?