Arizona Cardinals DT Nkemdiche improves in 2017
By Scott Allen
The Arizona Cardinals took defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche in the first round of the 2016 draft
The Arizona Cardinals last couple of drafts have not produced the full potential expected in their first-round choices. In 2015, it was offensive tackle D.J. Humphries. In 2016, it was defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche.
Humphries spent most of 2015 on the bench and inactive on gameday. The same happened with Nkemdiche, although he find his way into five games this past season.
It wasn’t until the latter half of 2016 when Humphries was moved over to left tackle did he start to shine a bit. He was alright at right tackle but he made his mark on the 2016 season after he moved over to the left side due to injury to Jared Veldheer and ineffectiveness of John Wetzel.
As for Nkemdiche, he was already coming into the season with some off the field baggage. He started the 2015 season as a possible top-five pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
More from Raising Zona
- Arizona Cardinals: Could Eric Bieniemy come to the desert?
- Would Jonathan Gannon be a good fit for the Arizona Cardinals?
- Arizona Cardinals: Budda Baker right in his take regarding the next coach
- Arizona Cardinals: 3 reasons new coach should want to work with Murray
- Arizona Cardinals special teams could be completely revamped in 2023
The Cardinals got him at 29 in the first-round. That should have been the first red flag.
His big problem in 2016 was that his issues weren’t just on the field. He was also immature off of the field.
He showed up for a road trip in a t-shirt for the plane ride. You have to wonder what goes through a man’s mind, a professional athlete’s mind, to make you wonder what would have been alright with that choice?
He is a great talent however that the Cardinals hope to harness more of his potential out of in 2017. I’d look for a more mature Robert Nkemdiche next season.
Hopefully it doesn’t take half of next season for him to figure it out finally. Figure out the daily and weekly routines an NFL player should closely follow.
If Nkemdiche is able to figure it out both on and off the field, the Cardinals could still be considered to get a steal at 29 in the first-round. There’s still plenty of room however for growth. He should improve in 2017.