The Arizona Cardinals had a draft to forget in 2018. And it took just one season to realize they drafted a mistake in the first round.
When Christian Kirk and Chase Edmonds departed the desert, it left the Arizona Cardinals with zero remaining picks from the 2018 NFL Draft. That said, the draft class was arguably the Cardinals’ worst of the 2010s.
If we had a crystal ball, odds are, we probably would have done a do-over here. So let’s have some fun and redraft the Arizona Cardinals 2018 draft, starting with the most important position in sports.
But before we dive into the redraft, here is how this is going to work. First, the Arizona Cardinals will keep all the selections they used in that draft. So, for example, they will keep the 10th overall selection that they used to select Josh Rosen.
They cannot pick anyone who went in front of them in each round. So, for example, they cannot pick quarterback Josh Allen, who went seventh overall to the Buffalo Bills. They can, however, pick another quarterback who has enjoyed a stellar career.
Redrafting the Arizona Cardinals 2018 Draft: Round 1, Pick 10:
Original Selection: Josh Rosen, QB/UCLA
While I am personally not a fan of Jackson’s run-first playing style due to the injury risk involved, we can all agree he would have been a much more sensible pick than Josh Rosen. And while Jackson’s passing skills are still ticky-tacky, he has shown the ability to throw from the pocket at times during his career, meaning he is not fully reliant on his legs.
While the Arizona Cardinals remedied the quarterback position with Kyler Murray despite his own shortcomings, Jackson has a far better resume. He has won the AFC North, won a playoff game, made two trips to the Pro Bowl, and he even won an NFL MVP award.
Again, I’m not the biggest fan of Jackson, given some of his antics, such as walking off the field without post-game handshakes after winning a playoff game against the Tennessee Titans or talking about how he would love to switch his jersey number to #1 and subsequently have both #1 and #8 retired. But you can’t deny that he would have taken the Cardinals further than Rosen or even Murray.
Therefore, Jackson gets the nod at 15th overall. And with the 57th pick, he gets that coveted puzzle piece he often lacked in Baltimore.