C-
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals got the worse of every deal, and it shows in the C-.
by Stan93 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 20 picks
· 8 steals
· 11 reaches
Boards are made to be trusted, and the Cardinals shredded theirs for Ahmed Hassanein. He came off 116 spots early, and the room will hear about it.
That Schwesinger pick is the receipt they will wave around later. The dealing is the wound this class cannot quite close.
Stockpiling next year's capital is patient, if unglamorous, asset work. Building through the lines is a philosophy, and they stuck to it.
If JT Tuimoloau and a couple of the gambles land, hindsight will be kinder than this grade.
Pick-by-Pick
They talked themselves into JT Tuimoloau at pick No. 34, and the board did not agree. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Fair-plus on Tyleik Williams, a quiet win that adds up over a draft. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They reached into another round for Elijah Roberts, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Oronde Gadsden II this early at the Round 3 slot. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Tyler Warren at pick 78 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A need, and now a little less of one.
Ahmed Hassanein at the 86th overall pick is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Luke Kandra in pick 113 is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
The board fumbled Tez Johnson all the way to the Round 4 slot, and they scooped it up. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Ty Robinson well ahead of where he belonged. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Trey Zuhn III at the 126th pick is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for JJ Pegues. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Ricky White III at slot 147 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Connor Colby at No. 151 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Cam Skattebo at the 152nd overall pick is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
They will replay Sebastian Castro at pick 153 for years; that is how good the value is. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Circle this one: Antwane Wells Jr. at Round 6, Pick 21 is a fall that decides a draft. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Taking Carson Schwesinger in slot 213 is close to grand larceny; a linebacker that good had no business lasting this long. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
A wild overpay on KJ Jefferson in No. 219, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They robbed the room for Jonah Monheim here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Jamaree Caldwell in the 250th pick is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.