Arizona Cardinals receive:
21st Overall Selection, Darron Lee – Ohio State
New York Jets receive:
29th Overall Selection, Vernon Butler – Louisiana Tech
93rd Overall Selection, Paul Perkins – UCLA
What We Got: The Cardinals, of course, have plenty of connections all around the NFL, and a former defensive coordinator gives us a chance to move up for a player who possesses what the Cardinals want. Who the Cardinals get in return is a young man who has tremendous upside, unbelievable potential, and is able to play multiple positions. Darron Lee of Ohio State is one of my favorite defensive players in this draft, he can play inside because he is so light on his feet, and he has enough weight to be able to attack the edge. To say he has great edge presence is an understatements, he was the edge presence that the Buckeyes used constantly, and Darron was able to use his wrap-up ability to his advantage. I would say if the Cardinals are able to trade up for Darron Lee, they do so, before those greedy Steelers who refuse to draft defensive backs do.
What They Got: In this case, I actually did a practice mock to see what the Jets would get for three straight rounds, and they came out pretty good. They first was able to insure that the front of the defensive front remains intact, with Damon Harrison becoming a free agency, the Jets get his heir apparent in Vernon Butler of Louisiana Tech. This is, in fact, a very deep defensive class, and the luxury of a top nose tackle like Vernon Butler is affordable for the Jets to trade back. Not to mention, the Jets are also able to redshirt Vernon if they so choose, as they did with Leonard Williams (partially), and it would completely work for them. Another pick for the Jets, in the practice mock, was the selection of Paul Perkins from UCLA. Perkins is a different player then Chris Ivory, as Ivory is a run-through kind of player, and he doesn’t run away from contact. Perkins on the other hand doesn’t dole out a lot of punishment, but rather uses his great vision to escape from closing edges.
Projected Stats:
Darron Lee – OLB – 77 tackles, 4 sacks, 10.5 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 interception
Vernon Butler – NT – 7 tackles, 0.5 sack, 1 tackle for loss
Paul Perkins – RB – 114 rushes, 719 yards, 6.31 yards per rush, 6 touchdowns
Final Notes:
This is more of the Jets and Cardinals both trying to win at the same time, and overtime I think that both the Cardinals and Jets fans will begin to love this trade. Darron Lee is a talent that needs development, I think that the Cardinals really could capitalize on the development at the end of the season, like they did with Markus Golden. The Jets also get some help, with most of the help coming from Paul Perkins because of the impending free agency of Chris Ivory, and the development of Vernon Butler. But why would the Cardinals trade up for a prospect? Because, 1 year ago, the Cardinals were looking to trade up for what many scouts estimated to get Bud Dupree. Why not this year, it actually happens.
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