Working through some options for the Arizona Cardinals at the 16th pick.
Happy Friday one and all.
The Arizona Cardinals and the rest of the NFL will have finished the 2025 NFL Draft’s first round and we will all be happy… right… right?
To get us prepared let’s do a little experiment today.
Walter mentioned how ESPN had league scouts from around the league pick the first 10 picks.
That leaves five picks before the Arizona Cardinals pick, so we will use a combination of research and the consensus picks to get us to the Cardinals pick.
I will link to the E$PN+ article but also provide the first ten picks with none of the reasoning.
- Cam Ward – Titans
- Travis Hunter – Browns
- Abdul Carter – Giants
- Will Campbell – Patriots
- Mason Graham – Jaguars
- Ahston Jeanty – Raiders
- Armand Membou – Jets
- Jalon Walker – Panthers
- Shemar Stewart – Saints
- Will Johnson – Bears
That takes us to the 49ers and of course they take a punter.
11. Mykel Williams – 49ers
12. Tetairoa McMillan – Cowboys
13. Jahdae Barron – Dolphins
14. Jihad Campbell – Colts
15. Mike Green – Falcons
That brings us to the Arizona Cardinals.
In this scenario there are a couple of options.
First you can grab Kelvin Banks, Derrick Harmon, Kenneth Grant, Josh Simmons.
Shedeur Sanders is still on the board, so there is a chance, slim, that maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers would move up. Would you be willing to move out of the first round altogether, get a future first or second and then a bounty this year if the Giants came calling?
I think in this scenario the Cardinals stick and pick, and Banks would make sense. Ironically OL guru Duke Manyweather, who has been working out with one Paris Johnson Jr., had this to say:
IMO, I think he’d be an excellent OG. Out of the top OT’s in this draft, Banks is the lesser athlete, you see it on tape & reflects in testing if you compare to other top OT’s (tested more like an OG). Get’s out of position a lot, his feet aren’t always efficient and it hurts his… https://t.co/5nvj4gPuJo
— Duke Manyweather (@BigDuke50) April 18, 2025
Of course, not sure fans would be super excited about grabbing a guard at 16.
In this scenario I think the Cardinals would take Derrick Harmon. He checks a lot of the boxes and is a dominant interior pass rusher.
I think their first inclination would be to trade down, but again, you have to have someone willing to move down and more importantly, there has to be a player teams would move up for.
I don’t know in this draft who that is, unless teams want to get in front of the Bengals for a pass rusher, or get in front of the Broncos for Omarion Hampton.
If I had my druthers, I would take Josh Simmons. I know I cannot know how the knee is, but he was the best offensive linemen in college football before the injury, has extensive work at both tackle positions, and did what you want… moved from San Diego State to Ohio State and became a dominant player.
He is the best player they can take here, but again, I have no way of knowing how the knee is, and it is easy from my comfy chair to make that call.
Would love to know what you would do in this circumstance.