The Arizona Cardinals no longer have a second-round pick in the NFL draft because they sent it to the Houston Texans as part of the deal for receiver DeAndre Hopkins. However, they still have four picks in the first four rounds, as they have two fourth-round selection.
In Draft Wire managing editor Luke Easterling’s new mock draft, he goes four rounds and projects that the Arizona Cardinals will use three of their four selections in those four rounds to address the defense.
With their first-round pick, though, they address the offensive line. They select Alabama tackle Jedrick Wills.
After trading for DeAndre Hopkins, the Cards aren’t likely to spend a top-10 pick on another pass-catcher, no matter how much Kyler Murray might like to throw to CeeDee Lamb again. Instead, the Cards opt to improve the protection for their young quarterback. With D.J. Humphries back, Wills slides in as the immediate starter at right tackle.
Wills is a safe pick. The question is whether he would beat out a healthy Marcus Gilbert as the starter at right tackle.
He’s not a bad pick, but he isn’t an exciting pick by any means.
Round 3: Mississippi State CB Cameron Dantzler
This is the first of three defensive picks in a row for the Cardinals in this mock draft. He didn’t run a good 40 at the combine (only 4.64 seconds), but his length (6-2, 185) and game tape of being very good in press will look good for the Cardinals if they select him. He will have starting potential. He did have an injury his final season in college but still managed to lead his team in interceptions.
Round 4: Florida EDGE Jabari Zuniga
With the first of two fourth-round selections, the Cardinals take Zuniga in Easterling’s mock. Zuniga is interesting as a prospect because he has the physical traits and some flashes of dominance, but his overall production for the Gators was not big. The most sacks he had in a season was 6.5.
He has some versatility to potentially play as an outside linebacker and maybe even some defensive line. Since the Cardinals will need a rotational pass rusher, Zuniga might be a good fit here.
Round 4: Virginia LB Jordan Mack
Mack began college as a defensive back before moving to linebacker. He has bulked up to 241 pounds at the NFL combine and played about about 230. Despite his history as a defensive back, he produced almost nothing in coverage as a linebacker, breaking up one pass his entire college career with the Cavaliers. He has good movement skills to play in space and is disciplined in a team defense but is not a big playmaker. He did have 14.5 career sacks and six forced fumbles, so there is some potential there.
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