The Arizona Cardinals got a tackle in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft
Those who criticized the Arizona Cardinals for not taking an offensive lineman in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft should be very happy now. The Cardinals got a good one on Friday night.
With their third round pick they took tackle Josh Jones from the University of Houston. He was the best available player on the board at the time of the pick plus the Cardinals fill a need.
He stands at 6’7, 310 lbs. He is very close to the size of current Cardinals tackle D.J. Humphries, who stands at 6’5, 307 lbs. Imagine those book ends protecting quarterback Kyler Murray in 2020 and beyond.
Humphries of course got his contract extension a couple of months ago and now with the addition of Jones, the Cardinals offensive line now looks legitimate at least on paper. Hopefully Humphries can continue to remain healthy.
Justin Murray remains in the mix as well and would compliment either tackle as a backup. For now though, Jones is the prize.
Jones was Second team All-AAC in 2019 with the Cougars. There were some people that thought Jones should have gone a lot sooner than the Cardinals 72nd pick. Seeing the praise and how highly he is being spoken of would certainly add legitimacy to that statement.
Of course he has to come out now and prove it, whenever that will be. Still, this is a smart pick for the Cardinals at 72. Cardinals general Manager Steve Keim has had a good first two nights of the 2020 NFL Draft with versatile linebacker Isaiah Simmons in round one, getting receiver DeAndre Hopkins in return for the 40th pick of the draft in the second round, and now Jones.
Given the Cardinals selection spots coming in, they really couldn’t have done much better. Hopefully we will get to see him do his thing this fall in some fashion.