B+
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals turned the phones into found money: B+.
by Stan93 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 19 picks
· 9 steals
· 4 reaches
The Cardinals went off the board in a big way for Kevin Coleman Jr., 95 picks early. Conviction is one thing; this is another.
The trade ledger is the best part of the whole weekend. The Sadiq pick is the one they will point to when this weekend is judged.
The Cardinals clearly valued win-now help, adding bodies who have done it before. They went 8 of 8 on their needs, which is most of what a draft is for.
A tidy weekend of work that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get a sideline-to-sideline linebacker at a price that makes it sweeter.
In pick 27 they get juice off the edge at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
In Round 1, Pick 28 they get a ballhawk on the back end. Need was not the driver here.
They will replay Makai Lemon at pick No. 33 for years; that is how good the value is. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They barely believed it either: Sonny Styles still on the board at No. 35. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Kayden McDonald in slot 37 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
A reach on Max Iheanachor in pick 39; the board had better options right there. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
You do not let an offensive lineman like Olaivavega Ioane reach the Round 2 slot and blink. They did not. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
D'Angelo Ponds at the 41st overall pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Somehow Kenyon Sadiq was still sitting there in the 42nd pick, and they pounced on premier tight end value. A need, and now a little less of one.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Peter Woods in slot 43. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Garrett Nussmeier in Round 2, Pick 12, miles early. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Lee Hunter at pick No. 65 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A clean, defensible pick in No. 66 with a little surplus value in Christen Miller. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Chase Bisontis at the Round 3 slot is money in the bank, a offensive lineman taken below his worth. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Jadarian Price at No. 68 is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
A market-rate edge rusher, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Derrick Moore. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Kevin Coleman Jr. at pick 70 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Ted Hurst at the 71st overall pick is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.