Call it buyer’s remorse. Call it “hindsight is 20/20.” Call it what you will, but every team has it: Draft Day regret. You take a chance on a young talent, hoping they would bring that missing piece to your offensive or defensive picture…only for them to kind of fall flat on their face.
It’s not always the player’s fault. Sometimes, it’s the general manager or head coach who doesn't know which way the team is going. For example, the Atlanta Falcons drafted Michael Penix Jr. in 2024 after signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal. Two quarterbacks? Which one of these men will be the one to throw the ball? SO CONFUSING.
Funny enough, the Falcons come into play with what one analyst thinks is the Arizona Cardinals’ worst draft pick over the last five years.
Isaiah Simmons is the Cardinals' worst draft pick in the past 5 years: analyst
When recapping all the major draft day busts in recent years, Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder said that Arizona picking linebacker Isaiah Simmons was their biggest misstep. The team used the overall No. 8 pick on the Clemson Tigers alum, who was noted for his versatility on the Tigers’ defense. Simmons started as a safety before converting to linebacker in 2018, midway through his college career.
That seemed to help, as Clemson went on to win the national championship that year. They’d repeat that feat in 2019, but by then, Simmons was off the squad; he redshirted his first year at Clemson, graduated as a junior in December 2019, and decided to forgo his senior year so he could declare himself for the draft.
Simmons should have stayed an extra year. Holder writes:
“It’s understandable what the Cardinals were thinking when they took Simmons with a top-10 draft pick. The NFL had become a passing league in which big college safeties were routinely converted into linebackers.
“However, the Clemson product ended up not having a natural position in the league and was eventually traded for a seventh-round pick. Simmons is currently on the Green Bay Packers, where he’ll be fighting for a roster spot during training camp.”
Now, if you’re a foolish keyboard analyst, you can easily criticize a player’s grade without suggesting who the team SHOULD have picked, instead. Holder, however, has an idea of what COULD have been. Instead of going with Simmons, the Cardinals missed out on picking up A.J. Terrell Jr., who went to the Atlanta Falcons.
Holder writes that, at the time, Arizona didn’t need a cornerback because they had Patrick Peterson and Byron Murphy Jr. “But 2020 ended up being Peterson’s last season with the Cardinals, so adding an All-Pro-caliber corner like Terrell would have been a good investment,” writes Holder. “The position is one of the team’s current needs/weaknesses, so this would have been a better long-term solution in the desert.”
Terrell, another Clemson Tiger alum, has been a solid addition to the Falcons' roster. And the Cardinals haven’t had a stellar corner up until they drafted Will Johnson in the most recent draft (though we’re all hopeful that his health is fine and he proves all his haters wrong).
Holder didn’t have a shortage of options when it came to picking a bust. Zaven Collins needs a breakout season, as do Marvin Harrison Jr. and Darius Robinson. Holder likely awarded Simmons this dubious honor because, out of the last five draft picks, only Simmons is no longer with the team.
With Walter Nolen III, the Cardinals might be able to exorcise this misstep and have a defense that is scary good instead of terrifyingly terrible.