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Arizona Cardinals: Draft day 2 thoughts and predictions

By Vijay Singaraju

Apr 28, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Robert Nkemdiche (Mississippi) with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being selected by the Arizona Cardinals as the number twenty-nine overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft at Auditorium Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 28, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Robert Nkemdiche (Mississippi) with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being selected by the Arizona Cardinals as the number twenty-nine overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft at Auditorium Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Arizona Cardinals only have one pick heading into day 2 of the NFL Draft.

Unless you are living under a rock, you are well aware that the Cardinals bolstered up their pass rush by taking defensive end Robert Nkemdiche out of Ole Miss with the 29th pick. On paper this move makes a lot of sense. Arizona wants to get younger on defense, and they had Nkemdiche ranked very high on their board.

On day 2 of the draft, Arizona holds the 92nd pick which is in the third round. Arizona traded their second round pick (#61 overall) along with Jonathan Cooper to New England in exchange for linebacker Chandler Jones.

The Cardinals have had a lot of success with the third round in Steve Keim’s tenure as general manager. In 2013 they selected Tyrann Mathieu who is now an All-Pro corner. In 2014 they selected receiver John Brown who is just coming off his first 1000 receiving yard season. Last year, they selected running back David Johnson who is now entering 2016 as the starting running back in the desert.

In my opinion, there are realistically two directions that the Cardinals can go with this pick.

After passing on one yesterday, the Cardinals could look to take a defensive back help increase the number of bodies in the secondary. With Tyrann Mathieu out for a significant period of time and Jerraud Powers still a free agent, Arizona will need to add a player that can come in on situation downs and make plays for the defense. Some potential targets could possibly be Clemson safety, T.J Green and Mississippi State cornerback Will Redmond.

The other direction I can see the Cardinals going in is the selection of a quarterback. Carson Palmer will be 37 years old come playoff time and the team should be looking to get a head start on developing the future franchise signal caller. While the Cardinals could wait till tomorrow to draft one, there’s only a slight chance of finding the long term successor to Palmer.

Quarterbacks that have been linked to the Cardinals include Ohio State’s Cardale Jones, Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott and North Carolina State’s Jacoby Brissett.

Whatever direction Bruce Arians and Steve Keim choose to go in, I am sure it will ultimately be the best move for the team.

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