What position is the most important for the Arizona Cardinals to draft? It is a wide receiver or a tackle? This debate will likely go on until the actual draft. Some mock drafts have them taking a receiver and others an offensive lineman.
In ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay’s new mock draft, he has them going with the offensive line with the eighth overall pick. He has them going with Iowa offensive lineman Tristan Wirfs.
The possibility of former Sooners teammate CeeDee Lamb running routes for Kyler Murray is going to be something to watch for at No. 8, but don’t forget that teams need to protect their quarterback first. The Cardinals gave up 50 sacks this past season (fifth-worst in the NFL), not something you want to see when you just invested a No. 1 overall pick on a 5-foot-10 QB. Throw in the fact that they could lose D.J. Humphries and Marcus Gilbert and the pass-protection upside of the 6-foot-5 Wirfs starts to make even more sense. Get a difference-maker in front of Murray and then worry about help out wide on Day 2, when plenty of pass-catchers will be waiting to be snatched up.
In this scenario, all the receivers are on the board. The only lineman already taken is Alabama’s Jedrick Wills. So the Cardinals, if they wanted a lineman, would have their choice or Wirfs, Josh Jones, Andrew Thomas or Mekhi Becton.
The logic is sound. The question will end up being what the Cardinals have already done in free agency to address the line.
Wirfs is a pick that makes sense. Does he make sense over the other linemen and over all the receivers, or even over a prospect like defensive lineman Javon Kinlaw, who wowed everyone at the Senior Bowl?
That is what will continue to be debated for the next two and a half months.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
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