B-
Arizona Cardinals
No fireworks, just a tidy B- for the Cardinals.
by Khoston1999 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 7 picks
· 0 steals
· 3 reaches
Call it belief, call it a gut call, but Malachi Lawrence at Round 2, Pick 2 is 37 spots clear of consensus, and that is the headline. Nothing here to lose sleep over; call it a B-.
The wide receiver spot stays a question, and it was the one they most needed an answer at. Job largely done: quarterback settled and 5 of 8 of the wish list covered.
The trenches got the money picks, top to bottom.
Good work on the whole, with wide receiver the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 3 they get a plug-and-play piece up front at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
A real head-scratcher, Malachi Lawrence in slot 34 is miles ahead of his ranking. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Garrett Nussmeier at the Round 3 slot jumps the queue by a touch more than is comfortable. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Value said wait; Jaishawn Barham in the 104th pick says they were not listening. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A clean, defensible pick in the 143rd overall pick with a little surplus value in DeMonte Capehart. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
They paid sticker price for Seth McGowan in No. 183, and that is fine. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Thaddeus Dixon in pick No. 217 is fair value, right on his grade. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.