B-
Arizona Cardinals
A masterclass at the trade table lands the Cardinals a B-.
by Stan93 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 26 picks
· 3 steals
· 16 reaches
Boards are made to be trusted, and the Cardinals shredded theirs for Shaun Dolac. He came off 179 spots early, and the room will hear about it. The bottom line is a respectable B-.
If one pick saves this weekend, it is Williams. They won the margins on every swap, and it adds up fast.
Bottom line, more hits than misses and a roster nudged the right way.
Pick-by-Pick
A clean, defensible pick in Round 2, Pick 3 with a little surplus value in Mike Green. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Donovan Ezeiruaku. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A quiet steal in No. 48: Wyatt Milum for less than the market said. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Tyleik Williams in the 49th overall pick lands just on the right side of the ledger. The roster fit checks out.
Darien Porter at pick 62 jumps the queue by a touch more than is comfortable. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Nothing to complain about; Demetrius Knight Jr. went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Jayden Higgins in No. 68 is fair value, right on his grade. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A wild overpay on Will Howard in pick No. 75, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
No edge and no loss on Carson Schwesinger in pick 76; it is a wash and a sensible one. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They jumped the gun on Andrew Mukuba, taking him earlier than his grade liked. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Donovan Jackson. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They liked Cam Skattebo enough to skip the value, taking him in the Round 3 slot. It fills a real need, too.
They reached a country mile for Antwaun Powell-Ryland at the 96th overall pick, and the board is aghast. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A premium they did not need to pay, Luke Kandra a notch or two before his time. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A big swing on Ty Robinson at the 99th overall pick, well ahead of any board in the building. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They paid up for Terrance Ferguson at pick No. 107 when waiting would have done the job. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Billy Bowman Jr. at the 108th pick is a conviction pick that outran the value. They doubled down on a strength rather than a need.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Willie Lampkin this early at the Round 4 slot. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Anthony Belton at slot 114 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A reach on Darius Alexander in pick 115; the board had better options right there. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
David Walker in No. 117 is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Value said wait; Aeneas Peebles in Round 4, Pick 17 says they were not listening. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A reach for Rylie Mills in No. 120; a little patience would have been rewarded. A need, and now a little less of one.
They robbed the room for Savion Williams here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Jaylin Noel in the 124th overall pick is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Shaun Dolac at the 128th pick is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.