Arizona Cardinals: 3 reasons to get excited for the 2023 NFL Draft
By Sion Fawkes
The Arizona Cardinals hold the third pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and there are many reasons to get excited for the big event in late April.
The Arizona Cardinals have yet to find a head coach and general manager, and won’t make an announcement on their new hires until late this month or even early February. But it’s never too early to start talking about the NFL Draft.
And since the Redbirds have a top five selection, the draft will be on many fans’ minds from now until April 27th. But if you’re not yet excited about the big event, check out three reasons why you should be, even in mid January.
1 – The 2023 Draft Class is deep
The Arizona Cardinals need to go defense early, as there are a plethora of prospects that will help them out. Don’t be surprised if they trade out of the third overall spot to accumulate more draft capital, especially if they can somehow land a second first round pick.
This is a roster with a lot of holes, but with such a deep draft class, the Cardinals could find immediate contributors in the first three rounds. If they can hit, then you could see a faster turnaround in the desert.
2 – The Arizona Cardinals will land a game-changer
With the third overall pick, the Cardinals will land a game-changer. But even if they decide to trade the pick to a quarterback-needy team, the Cardinals will still land an immediate contributor. Odds are, they will go after an edge rusher.
J.J. Watt is retiring, so Arizona has some pretty big shoes to fill. Prospects like Will Anderson Jr., Miles Murphy, or Tyree Wilson are all slated to go in the top ten, per PFF’s latest mock draft. With so much talent at linebacker and defensive back, an edge rusher will take the Redbirds defense to the next level.
3 – The draft picks might actually pan out
Steve Keim struck gold on a few picks, but he squandered far more. And while most draft picks never live to expectations, Keim had an unusually high number of poor selections, especially in the first two rounds.
Sure, the next general manager could make the same mistakes. But with such a deep class and the fact the Arizona Cardinals currently hold the third pick, the odds of the Redbirds finding more than a few gems are better than in years’ past.
Cardinals must land either Adam Peters or Ran Carthon. light. Trending
Overall, fans should be excited about the draft because of how deep this class is, plus the high likelihood a game-changer is coming to town. With a new general manager in place, the odds are better this season that we will see a solid class overall come to the desert than we had in the recent past.
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