It is the start of the last week of February, with March approaching this weekend and that means the new year in the NFL is almost here. Then before you know it, we will be live from Detroit, Michigan for the NFL draft. This will be a big draft class for the Arizona Cardinals, who have 13 total picks with the first two being in the first round. At picks No. 4 and No. 27, the Cardinals will have the chance to pick twice on day one.
There have been mock drafts that have the Cardinals either taking wideout Marvin Harrison Jr. out of Ohio State, or Malik Nabers out of LSU at the fourth pick. If Harrison Jr. is still available by the time Arizona is on the clock, it should be a no-brainer that Monti Ossenfort gets a highly rated young weapon for Kyler Murray. However, there is also a possibility that Harrison Jr. is off the board like mentioned in other mock drafts.
If the Cardinals go on the clock and are not able to get Harrison Jr., they will then have the opportunity to explore various routes. They could take Nabers, or even trade down to acquire more draft capital to help build their overall roster. However, if Ossenfort is sitting at the fourth pick and can bring in edge rush help with Alabama's Dallas Turner, it is a move that has a high celing reward for this Arizona defense.
This draft is loaded with offensive talent, especially in the top ten. With the Cardinals needing help on both sides of the ball at multiple positions, they have a lot of options. Getting an edge rusher like Turner, who was teammates with Defensive Rookie of the Year, Will Anderson Jr. (the player that Cardinals missed out on last year), would bring a true pass rush for the future in Arizona.
In three years with the Crimson Tide, Turner had 22.5 sacks and 120 total tackles. Outside of Turner, there is not a lot of talent at the edge rusher position in this draft. The wide receiver class is loaded which gives the Cardinals options late in the first round and going into day two and three. With head coach Jonathan Gannon, a defensive minded coach, this takes the pressure off of him from having no consistent pass rush.