Dedicating a thread to looking at the draft via the roster

[PDXChris]

Horton a top 3 vertical threat WR in this draft
Likely a third round pick cause he missed some games last season

I'm intrigued by him. He has good length, but needs to add 10lbs. He missed games for a minor knee procedure. There is no report of ebay exactly the procedure was, but it was in October and he's been 100% cleared and ran a 4.4 at the combine. Probably a meniscus or clean up to be ready for the NFL. He also returns punts, so could make Dortch more expendable. NFL.com has a 4th round grade in him.

Oh and he was a CAPTAIN!

Draft Projection
Round 4
Overview
Productive fifth-year senior and two-time team captain whose 2024 season was cut short by a knee surgery. Horton is a loose athlete with quality speed and above-average cut quickness. He’s an instinctive route runner with a feel for burst timing and he rarely drops what is thrown his way. Big press corners are likely to slow him and take a bite out of his effectiveness, but motion and bunch formations could solve that problem. He can knife through the heart of zone defenses and is competitive at the catch point but can be overtaken on 50/50 balls by length and size. If healthy, Horton has WR3 upside.

Coming off injury, Tory Horton turns heads with fast 40-yard dash at NFL combine

Tory Horton missed most of the 2024 Colorado State football season injured, but he ran a fast 40-yard dash at the NFL combine.

sports.yahoo.com

A few folks have us taking him in the 3rd or 4th round. Prior to the injury, there were a few that saw 1st round potential.

Tory Horton Draft Profile 2025 | NFL Mock Draft Database

Tracking where Tory Horton could be drafted in the 2025 NFL mock draft.

www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com

 

[Chopper0080]

Who do you like there?

It's tough to tell who might be around, but Higgins, Noel, Bech, Royals, K Williams, T Horton all could be solid considerations IMO.

 

[DaHilg]

I think it’s a lot of wishful thinking a 3rd or 4th round WR is going to step in and provide meaningful production year 1. Pretty rare to do so.

 

[Goldfield]

That remains to be seen

You could say that about every move ever made

 

[Goldfield]

I agree that Monti has left us bereft of the starting talent needed at ILBer on this roster. I disagree that moving ZC inside again would be a good answer.

I don’t know what Bareft means but I don’t agree

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I don’t know what Bareft means but I don’t agree

Definitionally I think you agree with the bereft statement but disagree that zaven could be the answer. For my part I somewhat agree with stouts bereft statement and disagree with your assessment that a failed conversion of zaven to ILB should be resurrected.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Rounds by round, here are the positions that I would guess Monti would target based on the roster and the likelihood those players can make the 53. (in no particular order and none of my preference)

1 - WR, OT, OG, DL, EDGE
2 - WR, OT, OG, DL, EDGE (ILB?)
3 - WR, OG, EDGE, ILB (DL maybe if someone drops)
4 - WR, OG, EDGE, ILB, CB
5 - WR, OG, EDGE, ILB, CB

The more I think about it the more I believe the Cardinals will go OL in round 1 and DL/Edge in round 2. It think there will be a big run on the OL before the Cardinals pick because teams know there just isn't much depth at the OL positions in this draft and so many teams are in need of help there.

So I think the Cardinals will have the choice of one of these two players when they pick at 16:

OG Tyler Booker
OT Josh Simmons
Honorable mention (OG Donovan Jackson)


In Round two there will be several choices that could be available due to the depth of the DL and Edge in this draft class.

The list in the 2nd round is much more open and depending on who falls I think one of the following will be there for the Cardinals with the possibility that they may trade up a few spots to secure one of the bigger name players early in the second round:

DT Kenneth Grant
DT Walter Nolen
DT Darius Alexander
Edge Nic Scourton
Edge Princely Umanmielen
Edge Femi Oladejo
Honorable Mention (ILB Carson Schwesinger)

 

[BirdGangThing]

no hernandez - no fries - jonah only signed thru 2025 - we're going o-line

 

[Proximo]

The more I think about it the more I believe the Cardinals will go OL in round 1 and DL/Edge in round 2. It think there will be a big run on the OL before the Cardinals pick because teams know there just isn't much depth at the OL positions in this draft and so many teams are in need of help there.

So I think the Cardinals will have the choice of one of these two players when they pick at 16:

OG Tyler Booker
OT Josh Simmons
Honorable mention (OG Donovan Jackson)


In Round two there will be several choices that could be available due to the depth of the DL and Edge in this draft class.

The list in the 2nd round is much more open and depending on who falls I think one of the following will be there for the Cardinals with the possibility that they may trade up a few spots to secure one of the bigger name players early in the second round:

DT Kenneth Grant
DT Walter Nolen
DT Darius Alexander
Edge Nic Scourton
Edge Princely Umanmielen
Edge Femi Oladejo
Honorable Mention (ILB Carson Schwesinger)

I really don't think Monte is taking Booker. He is fat and unathletic, and that goes completely against his draft track record.

 

[BirdGangThing]

I really don't think Monte is taking Booker. He is fat and unathletic, and that goes completely against his draft track record.

dalvin tomlinson called...

 

[MadCardDisease]

I really don't think Monte is taking Booker. He is fat and unathletic, and that goes completely against his draft track record.

Yeah so I got tied up in Booker's combine numbers as well initially. However the tape doesn't lie. Booker is a Violent player/blocker, he has a strong Football IQ and he is a very strong leader. I think those are all traits that Monti looks for.

 

[HammerCards]

How many roster spots do we realistically have available? I imagine it isn’t many.

I’ll be interested to see if we could maneuver draft in a way to have 4-5 picks before round 5 and that’s all we do.

 

[Garthshort]

How many roster spots do we realistically have available? I imagine it isn’t many.

I’ll be interested to see if we could maneuver draft in a way to have 4-5 picks before round 5 and that’s all we do.

You're moving in the Mike Ditka direction when he traded his entire number of picks to move up for a RB. And then went out and played golf.

 

[HammerCards]

You're moving in the Mike Ditka direction when he traded his entire number of picks to move up for a RB. And then went out and played golf.

Sounds good to me !

 

[Goldfield]

Definitionally I think you agree with the bereft statement but disagree that zaven could be the answer. For my part I somewhat agree with stouts bereft statement and disagree with your assessment that a failed conversion of zaven to ILB should be resurrected.

I was joking…but I’m not concerned about the ILB position at the moment. Mack was a questionable signing last year and he was solid. They brought in another questionable ILB so I’ll wait and see. But I do expect to add one in the draft also. I don’t think Zaven is moving. And I hope we can upgrade that position as well at some point.