Top 5 safeties the Arizona Cardinals may consider in the 2023 NFL Draft

5 - Ronnie Hickman, Ohio State

And finally, we have Ronnie Hickman, who, like Smith and Hellams, had plenty of experience playing some of the best in college football thanks to his time at Ohio State. And in 2021, Hickman was a force, notching 99 combined stops, two interceptions, 65 yards, and a pick six. 

Though his numbers dropped in 2022, they still weren’t terrible, with 53 tackles, 1.5 behind the line, plus an interception. Had Hickman maintained his productivity, chances are, he would rate among the best safeties in the class. 

Overall, I’m not expecting Monti Ossenfort to allocate any picks toward safety unless he acquires a few more through a trade of either DeAndre Hopkins or if he moved back in the first round in the draft and happened to acquire a late-round selection. Despite this, you never know what will happen on draft weekend, which is why I created the above rankings in the first place. 

(Statistics provided by Sports-Reference/CFB)