B+
Arizona Cardinals
Best value of the weekend goes to the Cardinals for Mondon Jr.: B+.
by Dnice ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 5 picks
· 5 steals
· 0 reaches
You build a draft on nights like this. Smael Mondon Jr. had no business being available in the Round 5 slot, and the Cardinals did the only sane thing and turned in the card. More right than wrong, and a B+ to match.
They covered a lot of ground and still skipped quarterback, which is a strange place to end up. The Sheldon Rankins pickup adds a known quantity to a class of unknowns. The trade work was a quiet net positive.
Running back is handled and the depth chart looks a good deal healthier for it.
A competent weekend that does not make headlines and does not need to.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get an anchor for the defensive front, outstanding value to boot. A clean fit for the roster.
They robbed the room for Jalon Walker here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Colston Loveland at pick 78 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
You do not let a running back like Quinshon Judkins reach the 123rd overall pick and blink. They did not. The roster fit checks out.
Steal is underselling it; Smael Mondon Jr. at No. 151 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.