So, I wanted to do a little write up with my thoughts on the Cardinals' draft, now that they're through all their 11 picks.
4 -- Marvin Harrison Jr., WR
27 -- Jackson Power-Johnson, OC
35 -- Kamari Lassiter, CB
66 -- Michael Hall Jr., 3-tech
71 -- Jonathan Brooks, RB
90 -- Dominick Puni, OG
104 -- Malik Washington, SWR
138 -- Javon Solomon, DE
162 -- Khristian Boyd, 1-/2i-tech
186 -- Michael Barrett, LB
226 -- Caedan Wallace, OG
The Cardinals have a lot of needs all over the team.
They moved Rondal Moore and Hollywood Brown leaving them with almost nothing at WR.
The left side of their Oline and their OC is questionable.
They've added Sean Murphy-Bunting at CB, but have nothing besides him.
They are moving from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defensive front and will need talent on the Dline.
They had a LB carousel last season and need that locked down.
With Harrison available I felt I couldn't really move off the 4th pick. It would immediately and immensely help their WR room. With the 104th pick I was considering picking Mohamed Kamara, but hoped he'd fall to 138 and took Malik Washington who'd lock down the slot WR spot. With those two picks I feel their passing game should improve a lot if Murray can get in sync with them. Unfortunately Kamara didn't last until 138.
At 27 I originally wanted Kool-Aid, but he got taken just ahead of me, so plan B was JPJ here. He'll lock down the OC spot and bring a mean streak to the run game.
I think Lassiter will be a solid pick to play next to Murphy-Bunting and it should definitely improve their secondary. Wanted Zach Fraizer here if I'd gotten Kool-Aid.
James Connor is a solid RB for the Cardinals, but he hasn't played a full season ever. Brooks will give them a good 1-2 punch running behind JPJ and....
Dominick Puni. OT projecting as a OG. I was hoping I could grab Christian Mahogany at 71, but he got taken RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! Puni was plan B, but still a solid pick up I feel.
Javon Solomon was the consolation prize when Kamara got taken. Still happy with the pick even if Solomon probably won't turn around their Dline this season.
Khristian Boyd has snaps at 3T and NT. I wanted him to play 1T/2iT and essentially let him play the same role Stewart has for us.
With the Cardinals last two picks I wanted to go LB with both, but only managed to get Barrett. I'm happy with Caedan Wallace though. He (or Puni) may have a shot at playing LT - Murray's strong side with him being left handed and all.
Overall I'm decently happy with it. If I could do it over I'd probably go OT or 3T at 27 (Amarius Mims or Byron Murphy), then Zach Fraizer at 35 and a CB at 71.
Yeah moving up on the draft isn't going to effect us too much.
Like you said $3-$4m more if we moved into top 5.
So would have us around $6-$6.5m in draft picks(top 51), unless we moved our 2nd also, which would drop it down to $5-$5.5m.
That combined with practice squad funds $2.5m-$3m.
We would still be looking at around $19m or so in space
As it is now, $2.8m for draft picks, $2.5m for Practice Squad and we would still be sitting at $22-$23m.
When we go back to 53, I don't anticipate too much of a swing as there will be players above the top 51 dropping off, so I anticipate it being a close to a wash. Especially looking at who is below the line now.
I think we are on the same side here?
Yeah it has to suck playing CB, even more so in Gus's scheme. Hopefully he becomes a little less stubborn and becomes a little more unpredictable this season.
Soundtrack #15.....
Ooh Ooh You Might Never Get Rich
But let me tell you it's better than diggin a ditch
There ain't no tellin who you might meet
A movie star or even an Indian chief
At the_______
Working at the_____ girl
Come on and sing it with me
____________
Sing it with the feelin ya'll
(_____________, yeah)
Soundtrack #14....
Who's the private d*ck that's a sex machine to all the chicks
________
You're da*n right
Who's the man who would risk his neck for his brother man?
__________
Right on...They say this cat______is a bad mother
Shut your mouth!
But I'm talking about_____
Then we can dig it!
Soundtrack #13......
I've been waiting for so long now I've finally found someone to stand by me
We saw the writing on the wall as we felt this magic fantasy
Now with passion in our eyes there's no way we could disguise secretly
So we take each other's hand cause we seem to understand the urgency
Just remember you're the one thing I can't get enough of
So I'll tell you one thing this could be love because....
_____________________________________________
Soundtrack #12.....
Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When your chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best
And_________________