D
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals answered their biggest question with Ward. Grade: D.
by ian ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 7 picks
· 2 steals
· 2 reaches
You can fall in love with a player. You are not supposed to marry him in the wrong round. The Cardinals did exactly that with Blake Miller in No. 107. It grades a D, and the process earned it.
They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down. Cam Ward is the bet, and the class will be judged on how it pays off. If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through edge rusher.
Landing Walker that late papers over a lot of smaller sins.
Add it up and it is a weekend the front office will hope everyone forgets, edge rusher very much included.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 4th overall pick they get a franchise quarterback. Exactly the need they had to hit.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Kenneth Grant at slot 35. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
A linebacker of that caliber at the Round 2 slot is the definition of value, full stop. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
No edge and no loss on Omarr Norman-Lott in pick 78; it is a wash and a sensible one. A need, and now a little less of one.
Blake Miller at pick No. 107 is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They went early on Mello Dotson in the 114th pick, and the value did not follow. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
A reasonable price with a little left over, Jaylin Noel in the Round 5 slot. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.