Arizona Cardinals profiles: Marqui Christian

The Arizona Cardinals have concluded mini-camp with next stop training camp in Glendale

We continue our annual look at player by player from A to Z on the current Arizona Cardinals roster as we are now entering the final stages of the offseason before the start of training camp. The next stop is training camp on July 28th.

In this profile we look at safety Marqui Christian.  Christian was drafted in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Midwestern State.

2015: Christian won the Cliff Harris Award for as the nation’s top small college defensive player. That includes players in NCAA Division II, III and the NAIA.  He had 95 tackles last season along with three passes defensed, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.

He had a season high 13 tackles in one game last season against Eastern New Mexico.  He finished with 295 tackles in four seasons at Midwestern State.

This kid has earned a long list of awards during his time at Midwestern State.  General manager Steve Keim appears to have possibly plucked another gem from a small school.

2016: Christian may have gone to a small school but that doesn’t mean he can’t play in the NFL. He appears to be the defensive version of receiver John Brown.  Small school player but big talent. He is a little taller than Brown at 6’1 but that won’t stop him from likely making the final 53-man roster come September.

The big question will be do the Cardinals want to go with five or six safeties on the active roster? Six I believe he is shoe-in.  If only five, he could be relegated to a practice squad player for now. However Christian adds the depth the Cardinals need there and have a hard time believing this guy won’t be around come regular season.