Arizona Cardinals 7-round mock draft, Big-12 only edition

Round 4

Measuring in at 6-foot-5 and 280-pounds with 36-inch arms, you’d be hard-pressed to find many people saying he ISN’T an NFL defensive lineman. Couple that with a combine performance that showed off his explosiveness including a 36.5-inch vertical and 115-inch broad jump and most would say he is an NFL defensive lineman.

Although he will be just that in under a week, he has a ways to go until he can convince those that he has the game to stay in the NFL. Though he was effective as a Longhorn on the edge tallying 16.0 sacks in 950 pass-rushing snaps, per Pro Football Focus, a lot of those wins came off of being bigger and more explosive than the competition — which is why he should be regulated to the 3-4 defensive interior.

Why? I believe he can move inside because of his weaknesses. Although he’s an explosive athlete, he’s not fluid or quick-twitch one, which could mean the demise of his edge rushing career. His lack of finesse could do the same. However, I do see success at this less flashy position for him as he’d have the opportunity to win with his power, bull-rush, and massive size.

I have the Cardinals drafting Omenihu here because of his versatility and potential. Although I don’t like his fit as an edge rusher, I like him as an edge setter. Theoretically, I could see Omenihu being a three-down player down the line set up as a 5-technique on the first two downs and as a 3-technique on third-down.