F
Arizona Cardinals
A weekend the Cardinals spent ahead of the board, for worse: F.
by Bob ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 15 picks
· 6 steals
· 5 reaches
If confidence were a draft strategy, the Cardinals would have aced it. Gino Garcia at the Round 5 slot is 128 spots clear of where he belonged. The warnings were there, and the F is the bill.
The Moore pick is the one they will point to when this weekend is judged. They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down.
That tight end hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall.
There is no soft landing here: they fought the board and left tight end open, and the grade is the bill.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 16 they get an every-down engine for the run game, a steep price for the projection. A clean fit for the roster.
A straight-up fair deal on Jaxson Dart at the Round 2 slot, value and slot in agreement. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Tre Harris at slot 47 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A market-rate edge rusher, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Kyle Kennard. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A premium they did not need to pay, Jordan Burch a notch or two before his time. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A big swing on Kaimon Rucker at pick 114, well ahead of any board in the building. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
You do not let an interior defensive lineman like Jordan Phillips reach the Round 4 slot and blink. They did not. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
They talked themselves into Gino Garcia at pick 150, and the board did not agree. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
Hollin Pierce at the 153rd pick is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Luke Kandra at No. 171 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Fair-plus on Joshua Gray, a quiet win that adds up over a draft. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Tyler Batty at pick No. 179 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They will replay Malachi Moore at Round 6, Pick 28 for years; that is how good the value is. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Steal is underselling it; JJ Pegues at the 208th overall pick is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Taking Karene Reid in the 257th overall pick is close to grand larceny; a linebacker that good had no business lasting this long. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.