B-
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals let Lawson fall into their laps, and walked away with a B-.
by Bubba 101 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 5 picks
· 3 steals
· 2 reaches
The value of the weekend has a name and a slot: Deontae Lawson, No. 151, roughly 70 picks past where he belonged. It nets out to a B-, which feels about right.
If Rourke pans out, nobody remembers the price. If not, this is the pick they hear about. They punted on edge rusher, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
On the needs board they went 5 of 8, with quarterback the one that mattered most. Building through the lines is a philosophy, and they stuck to it.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the edge rusher spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 16 they get a cornerstone up front, even if it was a touch early. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
Derrick Harmon slid further than he should have, and pick No. 47 is lovely value for the interior defensive lineman. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
They reached a country mile for Kurtis Rourke at Round 3, Pick 14, and the board is aghast. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Tez Johnson at the 114th overall pick is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They robbed the room for Deontae Lawson here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It patches a soft spot without any drama.