Is it just me or was the arrangement a lot better in Philadelphia than Dallas?
Also, Deuce Lutui has to be one of the best presenters of all time. Yeah, he might have been a little over the top, but a big guy wearing native togan clothes, dancing and shouting native tongan things? Come on, man. That’s good stuff.
Anyway, I thought I would post my take on what the Cardinals did through the weekend.
First round – quarterback Josh Rosen, UCLA
This was my dream selection for several months. I wanted the Cardinals to trade up very high to select Rosen, in parts because I think he is that good and in parts because the Cardinals are going nowhere without a good quarterback. When the Bills traded up, I thought is was probably a toss up whether they would select Josh Allen or Josh Rosen, and when they announced that it was Allen, I couldn’t really believe the luck in how it all unfolded. When the Cardinals traded up, I was literally thinking if I would pass out from hyperventilating, but then I began to fear that they would select Lamar Jackson instead, just because the buzz that Jackson would get drafted high had been building up the last couple of days. When they announced the selection of Josh Rosen, it was simply pure happiness in my living room.
When I heard about the trade conditions, I initially thought the Raiders was crazy to accept it, but then I thought about it some more and realized that I would have done the same. I think they wanted to draft offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey, and that they were a bit surprised that the Niners took him one spot ahead of them. I obviously don’t know where they had offensive tackle Kolton Miller ranked, but I would be surprised if they saw him as a top ten pick. So, I would imagine that the only trade offer they got were from the Cardinals, and if they believed that they could take the extra picks and still get the player they wanted, then I think it was a no-brainer to them. Still, it is kind of funny how the Raiders apparently like to help the Cardinals get very talented quarterbacks for next to nothing.
Almost everything has been said and discussed regarding Rosen, but the other day I started thinking about something regarding his devotion to play football that I wanted to share it with you guys. In other posts I have written about emotional intelligence, and how it is a very important component in being a successful quarterback. Now, in almost every analysis of Rosen since forever it has been mentioned how he is a people pleaser. He does a lot of things to help other people, and he tries his best to make people in his surroundings feel comfortable. There has been made multiple studies of what motivates us as people, and the conclusion is that it is not always money, fame or stuff like that. Some are motivated by achieving specific things, some are motivated by helping other people, some are motivated by the knowledge that they are appreciated and important to whatever they are doing. In Rosen’s introductory press conference he said that he knows that he most likely will someday be the leader and face of the Cardinals, and that he will at least to a degree be responsible for other people’s job security. He said something to the extent that he understands how a lot of people have gambled on him and in some ways has put their faith in his hands. He needs to be good for them to keep their jobs.
I believe that Josh Rosen likes to play football and has a desire to do great things, in part simply because I don’t think you can be the starting quarterback at UCLA for multiple seasons and considered a very good draft prospect if you don’t care about football, but let’s just hypothetical say that he does not. All of the above got me thinking that maybe he is in part motivated by making other people happy, and so to speak has an inner drive to do good things for the people around him. Maybe it doesn’t matter if it is football or if it is tennis or if it is house cleaning, marketing, cab driver or anything else. Maybe he just wants to be a success so that the people around him are happy.
I don’t know. It’s just a theory, and maybe it’s crazy. Like I said, I don’t think it is even relevant as I believe he badly wants to be a successful quarterback, but just maybe the things I have written about is included as a part of his motivation.
By the way, I think he is the starting quarterback in week one, no matter if Bradford is injury free or not.
Second round – wide receiver Christian Kirk, Texas A&M
Honestly, this was not the pick I was hoping for. I thought there was some higher rated prospects at this point. That said, I had Kirk ranked in the middle of the second round so from that standpoint it was a good pick.
As you all know, there is multiple reasons why Kirk could be a success with the Cardinals. One thing I don’t think has been talked about a lot, though, is how he is a very good route runner. In another post I showed how the success rate of wide receivers drafted in the first or second round the last five years has been mediocre. However, the ones that actually has been good selections all have in common that they were good route runners in college. If you watch college games you will quickly notice that most college receivers don’t often run routes from an NFL route tree, and thus they can’t even run a minimum of NFL routes when they joins a team. That translate very clear to them being unable to create separation against much better defensive backs than they have ever faced before, and without the ability to get separation NFL defenders will eat them alive. Kirk was one of the players in college that could actually run several other routes than go-routes or wheel-routes, and I believe that will be a major advantage in his switch to the pros.
Third round – offensive lineman Mason Cole, Michigan
I selected Mason Cole in my mock draft, so I will just copy the write-up I did at that time since I still feel the same way.
"Actually, I didn’t have Cole ranked highest among the three players I mentioned. I just think it’s perfectly fine to choose a certain position over the player you have ranked the highest. Obviously, you shouldn’t reach that much, if at all, but if the players are all ranked higher than the draft spot, and they are not ranked that far from each other, I will go with the position any time. Rookies are that important nowadays.
Cole is a fascinating evaluation since he played left tackle last season and has so for three out of his four years as a starter. I think, though, that he was best in 2016 where he had been moved inside to center. That is also where he thinks himself that he will play in the NFL.
He has a high football-IQ, and when he moved inside he apparently had no trouble helping the quarterback calling the protections and such in Jim Harbaugh’s pro style-offense. He plays with fairly good technique and a good low center of gravity. He is obviously more athletic that centers usually are. He needs some good coaching in certain areas, but I could see him being a starter pretty quick.
I think Shipley primarily was a starter because Arians was very loyal to him, and I can’t really figure out what to make of Boehm and Max Tuerk."
Fourth round – runningback Chase Edmonds, Fordham
I was disappointed with this pick. I thought there where higher valued prospects on the board, and runningback was not one of the positions I would have strengthen at this point. Also, I am not thrilled with the idea of an undersized runningback that had injury problems as recently as last season.
Edmonds is fun to watch. He is a human joystick who is very elusive, can change direction on a dime and can make jump cuts that would brake the legs on most other people. I can’t really figure out if I think it’s good enough if a fourth round pick makes the final roster and can contribute in specific situations maybe once or twice every other game or so, and I do think that is the most likely outcome from this selection. Maybe he becomes a monster on special teams, and in that case, I would be happy with the pick.
Did you know, by the way, that the Cardinals had picked a prospect out of Fordham before? It was John Skelton. I won’t hold that against Edmonds.
Sixth round – cornerback Chris Campbell, Penn State
I thought this was a good pick. I don’t think there is any doubt that they need a cornerback across from Peterson, and while this might not be that guy it’s also possible that he could be.
I wasn’t overly impressed with Campbell last season. I thought he lacked the required instincts and was at times too grabby. That said, he definitely has some potential as he is an impressive athlete and he can tackle, and I can easily see him be a better pro than college player.
I thought this pick was basically the equivalent of picking Brandon Williams, only this was three rounds later, though I was actually surprised Campbell was not selected in the fifth round just because of his upside. Steve Wilks is known as somewhat of a defensive backs wizard, so maybe he can mold Campbell, and Williams, into something good.
Seventh round – offensive tackle Korey Cunningham, Cincinnati
Honestly, I had never heard about Cunningham before, so I went back and did some research on him.
Most of the times that he gave up pressures it seems to me that it was because the quarterback took very deep drops. That caused the angle for the edge rusher to basically be a straight line and it is an extremely difficult task for an offensive tackle to block an edge rusher that has a straight line to the quarterback. I thought he was prone to give up pressures when the rush came inside of him, though, and I didn’t think he look overly strong.
In his conference call he said that eight or nine teams called him about joining them as an undrafted free agent. That has to say something.
The baseline is that as a former tight end Cunningham is very athletic and he can really move. He is a big project, and certainly not a lock to make the final roster, but there is something to work with, and that is probably all you can hope for a seventh round pick.
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I looked a bit into some of the undrafted free agents that is said to join the Cardinals. Remember that these lists that are only reported are almost always wrong on one or two players.
Wide receiver Corey Willis broke Antonio Brown’s record for receiving touchdowns at Central Michigan last season.
Two seasons ago safety Ezekiel Turner was the backup to Budda Baker at Washington. Turner is known as a great special team player.
Defensive tackle Haston Adams completely dominated opponents at the lower level for three years straight, and he was nominated to and won several awards.
Linebacker Dennis Gardeck has been working out with a physical therapist from the Cardinals before the draft.
Defensive end K.J. Smith was denied a redshirt medical after he got a season ending injury in the first game last season. The year before he was selected to the All Big-12 first team, and he was perceived to be a huge contributor for Baylor this last season. He did, by the way, participate in Baylor’s pro day so he is not injured right now.
I am not a fan of Pro Football Focus as I think there is too much guess work going in to their metrics, but for what it’s worth, in 2016 they graded linebacker Airius Moore as the best player on N. C. State’s team, including offensive players, in front of Bradley Chubb and anyone else on their vaunted defensive line.
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I wouldn’t say that the Cardinals killed the draft, only because I am one of those people that put a lot of stock into each of the three days, but with the selections on day one and two they have certainly given me a lot of hope for the future, and I think that is really all you can hope for with the draft.
Also, Deuce Lutui has to be one of the best presenters of all time. Yeah, he might have been a little over the top, but a big guy wearing native togan clothes, dancing and shouting native tongan things? Come on, man. That’s good stuff.
Anyway, I thought I would post my take on what the Cardinals did through the weekend.
First round – quarterback Josh Rosen, UCLA
This was my dream selection for several months. I wanted the Cardinals to trade up very high to select Rosen, in parts because I think he is that good and in parts because the Cardinals are going nowhere without a good quarterback. When the Bills traded up, I thought is was probably a toss up whether they would select Josh Allen or Josh Rosen, and when they announced that it was Allen, I couldn’t really believe the luck in how it all unfolded. When the Cardinals traded up, I was literally thinking if I would pass out from hyperventilating, but then I began to fear that they would select Lamar Jackson instead, just because the buzz that Jackson would get drafted high had been building up the last couple of days. When they announced the selection of Josh Rosen, it was simply pure happiness in my living room.
When I heard about the trade conditions, I initially thought the Raiders was crazy to accept it, but then I thought about it some more and realized that I would have done the same. I think they wanted to draft offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey, and that they were a bit surprised that the Niners took him one spot ahead of them. I obviously don’t know where they had offensive tackle Kolton Miller ranked, but I would be surprised if they saw him as a top ten pick. So, I would imagine that the only trade offer they got were from the Cardinals, and if they believed that they could take the extra picks and still get the player they wanted, then I think it was a no-brainer to them. Still, it is kind of funny how the Raiders apparently like to help the Cardinals get very talented quarterbacks for next to nothing.
Almost everything has been said and discussed regarding Rosen, but the other day I started thinking about something regarding his devotion to play football that I wanted to share it with you guys. In other posts I have written about emotional intelligence, and how it is a very important component in being a successful quarterback. Now, in almost every analysis of Rosen since forever it has been mentioned how he is a people pleaser. He does a lot of things to help other people, and he tries his best to make people in his surroundings feel comfortable. There has been made multiple studies of what motivates us as people, and the conclusion is that it is not always money, fame or stuff like that. Some are motivated by achieving specific things, some are motivated by helping other people, some are motivated by the knowledge that they are appreciated and important to whatever they are doing. In Rosen’s introductory press conference he said that he knows that he most likely will someday be the leader and face of the Cardinals, and that he will at least to a degree be responsible for other people’s job security. He said something to the extent that he understands how a lot of people have gambled on him and in some ways has put their faith in his hands. He needs to be good for them to keep their jobs.
I believe that Josh Rosen likes to play football and has a desire to do great things, in part simply because I don’t think you can be the starting quarterback at UCLA for multiple seasons and considered a very good draft prospect if you don’t care about football, but let’s just hypothetical say that he does not. All of the above got me thinking that maybe he is in part motivated by making other people happy, and so to speak has an inner drive to do good things for the people around him. Maybe it doesn’t matter if it is football or if it is tennis or if it is house cleaning, marketing, cab driver or anything else. Maybe he just wants to be a success so that the people around him are happy.
I don’t know. It’s just a theory, and maybe it’s crazy. Like I said, I don’t think it is even relevant as I believe he badly wants to be a successful quarterback, but just maybe the things I have written about is included as a part of his motivation.
By the way, I think he is the starting quarterback in week one, no matter if Bradford is injury free or not.
Second round – wide receiver Christian Kirk, Texas A&M
Honestly, this was not the pick I was hoping for. I thought there was some higher rated prospects at this point. That said, I had Kirk ranked in the middle of the second round so from that standpoint it was a good pick.
As you all know, there is multiple reasons why Kirk could be a success with the Cardinals. One thing I don’t think has been talked about a lot, though, is how he is a very good route runner. In another post I showed how the success rate of wide receivers drafted in the first or second round the last five years has been mediocre. However, the ones that actually has been good selections all have in common that they were good route runners in college. If you watch college games you will quickly notice that most college receivers don’t often run routes from an NFL route tree, and thus they can’t even run a minimum of NFL routes when they joins a team. That translate very clear to them being unable to create separation against much better defensive backs than they have ever faced before, and without the ability to get separation NFL defenders will eat them alive. Kirk was one of the players in college that could actually run several other routes than go-routes or wheel-routes, and I believe that will be a major advantage in his switch to the pros.
Third round – offensive lineman Mason Cole, Michigan
I selected Mason Cole in my mock draft, so I will just copy the write-up I did at that time since I still feel the same way.
"Actually, I didn’t have Cole ranked highest among the three players I mentioned. I just think it’s perfectly fine to choose a certain position over the player you have ranked the highest. Obviously, you shouldn’t reach that much, if at all, but if the players are all ranked higher than the draft spot, and they are not ranked that far from each other, I will go with the position any time. Rookies are that important nowadays.
Cole is a fascinating evaluation since he played left tackle last season and has so for three out of his four years as a starter. I think, though, that he was best in 2016 where he had been moved inside to center. That is also where he thinks himself that he will play in the NFL.
He has a high football-IQ, and when he moved inside he apparently had no trouble helping the quarterback calling the protections and such in Jim Harbaugh’s pro style-offense. He plays with fairly good technique and a good low center of gravity. He is obviously more athletic that centers usually are. He needs some good coaching in certain areas, but I could see him being a starter pretty quick.
I think Shipley primarily was a starter because Arians was very loyal to him, and I can’t really figure out what to make of Boehm and Max Tuerk."
Fourth round – runningback Chase Edmonds, Fordham
I was disappointed with this pick. I thought there where higher valued prospects on the board, and runningback was not one of the positions I would have strengthen at this point. Also, I am not thrilled with the idea of an undersized runningback that had injury problems as recently as last season.
Edmonds is fun to watch. He is a human joystick who is very elusive, can change direction on a dime and can make jump cuts that would brake the legs on most other people. I can’t really figure out if I think it’s good enough if a fourth round pick makes the final roster and can contribute in specific situations maybe once or twice every other game or so, and I do think that is the most likely outcome from this selection. Maybe he becomes a monster on special teams, and in that case, I would be happy with the pick.
Did you know, by the way, that the Cardinals had picked a prospect out of Fordham before? It was John Skelton. I won’t hold that against Edmonds.
Sixth round – cornerback Chris Campbell, Penn State
I thought this was a good pick. I don’t think there is any doubt that they need a cornerback across from Peterson, and while this might not be that guy it’s also possible that he could be.
I wasn’t overly impressed with Campbell last season. I thought he lacked the required instincts and was at times too grabby. That said, he definitely has some potential as he is an impressive athlete and he can tackle, and I can easily see him be a better pro than college player.
I thought this pick was basically the equivalent of picking Brandon Williams, only this was three rounds later, though I was actually surprised Campbell was not selected in the fifth round just because of his upside. Steve Wilks is known as somewhat of a defensive backs wizard, so maybe he can mold Campbell, and Williams, into something good.
Seventh round – offensive tackle Korey Cunningham, Cincinnati
Honestly, I had never heard about Cunningham before, so I went back and did some research on him.
Most of the times that he gave up pressures it seems to me that it was because the quarterback took very deep drops. That caused the angle for the edge rusher to basically be a straight line and it is an extremely difficult task for an offensive tackle to block an edge rusher that has a straight line to the quarterback. I thought he was prone to give up pressures when the rush came inside of him, though, and I didn’t think he look overly strong.
In his conference call he said that eight or nine teams called him about joining them as an undrafted free agent. That has to say something.
The baseline is that as a former tight end Cunningham is very athletic and he can really move. He is a big project, and certainly not a lock to make the final roster, but there is something to work with, and that is probably all you can hope for a seventh round pick.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I looked a bit into some of the undrafted free agents that is said to join the Cardinals. Remember that these lists that are only reported are almost always wrong on one or two players.
Wide receiver Corey Willis broke Antonio Brown’s record for receiving touchdowns at Central Michigan last season.
Two seasons ago safety Ezekiel Turner was the backup to Budda Baker at Washington. Turner is known as a great special team player.
Defensive tackle Haston Adams completely dominated opponents at the lower level for three years straight, and he was nominated to and won several awards.
Linebacker Dennis Gardeck has been working out with a physical therapist from the Cardinals before the draft.
Defensive end K.J. Smith was denied a redshirt medical after he got a season ending injury in the first game last season. The year before he was selected to the All Big-12 first team, and he was perceived to be a huge contributor for Baylor this last season. He did, by the way, participate in Baylor’s pro day so he is not injured right now.
I am not a fan of Pro Football Focus as I think there is too much guess work going in to their metrics, but for what it’s worth, in 2016 they graded linebacker Airius Moore as the best player on N. C. State’s team, including offensive players, in front of Bradley Chubb and anyone else on their vaunted defensive line.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wouldn’t say that the Cardinals killed the draft, only because I am one of those people that put a lot of stock into each of the three days, but with the selections on day one and two they have certainly given me a lot of hope for the future, and I think that is really all you can hope for with the draft.
Just a little over the top. I could say something about a certain Samoan juice....
