B+
Arizona Cardinals
Larceny in pick No. 206 lands the Cardinals a B+, Simon and all.
by jbjaguar ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 8 steals
· 0 reaches
Call it larceny. Cody Simon sat on the board until Round 6, Pick 28, and the Cardinals did not need to be asked twice. A sturdy weekend that grades out a B+.
They punted on quarterback, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest. Small wins on the phones, but wins all the same. They went 5 of 8 on their needs, which is most of what a draft is for.
Nothing here to lose sleep over, and plenty to feel decent about.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 16 they get an anchor for the defensive front. A clean fit for the roster.
Aireontae Ersery at pick 59 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
The board fumbled Isaiah Bond all the way to slot 78, and they scooped it up. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Jack Bech in the Round 3 slot should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Circle this one: Chris Paul Jr. at pick No. 116 is a fall that decides a draft. The roster fit checks out.
Value with a capital V on Terrance Ferguson in the 136th pick, a genuine coup. It fills a real need, too.
Emery Jones Jr. in the 171st overall pick is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They barely believed it either: Cody Simon still on the board at No. 206. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
You do not let an interior defensive lineman like JJ Pegues reach No. 211 and blink. They did not. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.