It's only preseason, but the Cardinals may have nailed this year's draft

For Arizona Cardinals fans who know a long losing season is likely ahead of them, this Hall of Fame Game provided a glimmer of hope for the future. They may have lost 33-30 to the Carolina Panthers, but this one felt like a win in terms of what you want to see in the preseason.

It truly felt like a new Cardinals era with head coach Mike LaFleur and rookie Carson Beck looking like a good fit for each other early on. If Beck is able to maintain a strong preseason, this could have the makings of a franchise-altering draft class for the Cardinals.

Cardinals' draft class could be key for their rebuild

We've already seen how well their first two picks Jeremiyah Love and Chase Bisontis, have fared throughout training camp. The fact that Beck is already placing himself in QB1 conversations should be considered a third-round win for the Cardinals as well. That could be three key building blocks in a potentially explosive Cardinals offense going forward.

Then, you have the late-round gems that are already sneaking up the depth chart. Fifth-round receiver Reggie Virgil was one of the standouts in the loss to the Panthers, finishing with 5 receptions for 66 receiving yards. Seventh-round right tackle Jayden Williams is already listed second on the depth chart, immediately returning value that late.

In our Cardinals rookie stock report, the one player trending downward was Kaleb Proctor, and that was only due to a season-ending torn meniscus. This entire Cardinals draft class appears to either be meeting or exceeding expected value relative to where they were selected.

Considering five of these rookies play offense, the Cardinals still have plenty of work left to be done to address multiple holes in its defense. That was on full display when they surrendered 33 to Carolina, including giving up the game-winning rushing touchdown to quarterback Haynes King.

But this is already looking like a strong Cardinals draft class, with the potential to be elite depending on the wildcard that is Beck.

It was a limited sample size of just five drives, but it's hard not to be excited about the upside of the players in this class. Not to say Beck is 100 percent the answer, but he showed just enough for that outcome to be a bigger portion of that pie than many probably expected. There's a world where Love is one of the league's premier running backs, and Beck is a starting-caliber quarterback going forward for the Cardinals, especially because of the weapons he'd be surrounded with.

That would definitely have to be considered nailing the draft, which could be the catalyst for the Cardinals crawling back into the NFC West conversation.

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