B+
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals worked the phones like thieves and earned a B+.
by Stan93 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 17 picks
· 12 steals
· 3 reaches
Some picks age like wine; Kevin Coleman Jr. at slot 106 will need to, sitting 60 spots clear of his grade.
The Bisontis pick alone nudges the whole weekend up a notch. They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own.
Job largely done: quarterback settled and 8 of 8 of the wish list covered.
A tidy weekend of work that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
Jeremiyah Love at No. 12 is money in the bank, a running back taken below his worth. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
They will replay Arvell Reese at pick No. 30 for years; that is how good the value is. The roster fit checks out.
In pick 31 they get an anchor for the offensive line at a price that makes it sweeter. Exactly the need they had to hit.
They read the board right and Olaivavega Ioane was the payoff at Round 2, Pick 2. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
By-the-book stuff, Akheem Mesidor at slot 35 squarely in line with his ranking. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They went early on Lee Hunter in the Round 2 slot, and the value did not follow. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A tidy bit of business in pick 37, where Dillon Thieneman graded well above the range. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Caleb Banks in slot 53 is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Taking Keith Abney II in No. 65 is close to grand larceny; a cornerback that good had no business lasting this long. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Germie Bernard in the 66th pick is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Carson Beck at the 67th overall pick is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Value with a capital V on Derrick Moore in pick No. 85, a genuine coup. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
You do not let a linebacker like Jacob Rodriguez reach Round 3, Pick 22 and blink. They did not. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Elijah Sarratt in the Round 4 slot should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A top-tier offensive lineman at a bargain, Chase Bisontis in pick 102, plain and simple. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
They robbed the room for Max Klare here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They reached into another round for Kevin Coleman Jr., and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.