F
Arizona Cardinals
Conviction outran the board for the Cardinals, and it cost them: F.
by fperki35 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 30 picks
· 11 steals
· 18 reaches
The Cardinals looked at the value chart, folded it up, and took Mario Williams at No. 160 regardless, 170 picks early. Little went right, and the F does not pretend otherwise.
The Brooks pick is the one they will point to when this weekend is judged. They handed away value on the phones that the picks cannot earn back.
Quarterback is handled and the depth chart looks a good deal healthier for it.
In short, a weekend the front office will want to forget in a hurry.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get a security blanket over the middle, a steep price for the projection. A clean fit for the roster.
In pick 27 they get a bell-cow for the offense at fair value. A real need, handled.
The board fumbled Princely Umanmielen all the way to Round 2, Pick 7, and they scooped it up. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A tidy bit of business in No. 60, where Xavier Watts graded well above the range. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
Ajani Cornelius in the 62nd pick is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Circle this one: Mike Green at slot 67 is a fall that decides a draft. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Jayden Higgins at pick 71 is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Mello Dotson this early at pick No. 73. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
You do not let an offensive lineman like Tyler Booker reach the 80th overall pick and blink. They did not. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Dylan Fairchild in the 84th pick should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Kyle Kennard at the Round 3 slot is the proof. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Jay Higgins at slot 99 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A real head-scratcher, Ricky White III in Round 4, Pick 18 is miles ahead of his ranking. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Will Howard in No. 148, miles early. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
R Mason Thomas in the 158th overall pick is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Mario Williams well ahead of where he belonged. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
They read the board right and Jalen Catalon was the payoff at the 165th pick. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
Steal is underselling it; Danny Stutsman at the Round 6 slot is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A need, and now a little less of one.
A wild overpay on Quincy Riley in pick 192, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. It is more luxury than necessity; they were already set here.
They talked themselves into PJ Williams at Round 6, Pick 27, and the board did not agree. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Riley Mahlman in No. 203 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They barely believed it either: Tahj Brooks still on the board at pick No. 216. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They reached a country mile for Jasheen Davis at the Round 7 slot, and the board is aghast. It fills a real need, too.
They reached into another round for Tyreak Sapp, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Value said wait; Trey Moore in pick 226 says they were not listening. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Taking Bryce Foster in Round 7, Pick 30 is close to grand larceny; an offensive lineman that good had no business lasting this long. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A big swing on Barryn Sorrell at the 246th overall pick, well ahead of any board in the building. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Elijhah Badger at pick No. 247 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Makari Paige at No. 254 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Aidan Keanaaina. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.