Second-round draft picks doing well for Arizona Cardinals

While several of their top draft picks have underachieved, the Arizona Cardinals have fared much better in the second round

Throughout his reign as the general manager of the Arizona Cardinals, Steve Keim has been deficient in one particular area of the job. The club’s top talent-evaluator, on far too many occasions, has made bad choices during the first round of the NFL Drafts he’s been in charge of. In fact, only half of the eight top selections made by Keim since 2013 (Isaiah Simmons, Kyler Murray, Haason Reddick, D.J. Humphries) are still with the team.

But despite the failures early on in his drafts, the resilient Keim has been much more successful in the second round. Look no further than what three of his second-rounders accomplished during the Cards 38-10 beatdown of the Dallas Cowboys this past Monday night.

At the forefront of that trio is Budda Baker, Arizona’s second-round pick in 2017. The safety was all over the field against the Cowboys, registering seven tackles, two quarterback hits, an interception and a pass breakup. Baker, who has been voted to two Pro Bowls in three campaigns, is arguably the best player on the Cardinals defense.

Another one of Keim’s second-round choices that stood out versus Dallas was second-year pro Byron Murphy. The Cards 22-year old cornerback stuck to Cowboys pass-catchers like glue, and quite possibly turned in the best performance of his young career. Murphy’s stat line included eight tackles, two passes defensed and a fumble recovery in the second quarter that led to an Arizona touchdown.

Topping off the Cardinals impressive threesome from the victory over Dallas was Christian Kirk, the organization’s 2018 second-round selection. The wide receiver hauled in just two passes during the matchup, but the speedy youngster made both of them count. Kirk took a six-yard toss from quarterback Kyler Murray into the end zone to open the evening’s scoring, and then burned past the Cowboys defensive unit for an 80-yard score just minutes later.

Another one of Keim’s second-round picks, linebacker Kevin Minter, racked up 223 tackles, six sacks and 18 quarterback hits in four years (2013-16) with the Cards. Edge-rusher Markus Golden, a 2015 second-rounder who’s currently with the New York Giants, totaled 119 tackles, 19 sacks and 73 quarterback hits in four seasons (2015-18) with Big Red.

That’s an impressive group of talent, to say the least. Arizona would be thrilled if Keim can start having that type of success in the first round of the franchise’s future drafts as well.