Time for some Kool-aid. I like this draft.

[rode kardinaal]

Okay, now that the first phase of disappointment is gone, it's time for the feeling of hope to re-appear. And yes, i know i'm overly positive, and i know i shouldn't blindly 'trust in Whiz and the FO', after last year's debacle.

But PP7 in the first is an instant boost to our secondary. Shakes things up, DRC can't walk around like he's the best anymore and has to work for it to keep up. Plus a dynamic returner, great pick.

Ryan Williams is puzzling. The saddest thing is that it means that another high pick (Beanie) was wasted. But after multiple years of watching Timmie fumble at important times or watching Beanie fail to pick up the blitz and going down because of a shoestring tackle someting had to be done.

Housler is, well, let's call it unexpected. But if he's our Jermichael Finley, and we can line him up in the slot, and thus add a weapon for the development of Skelton, i'm all for it. Could he have been picked in the fourth? Maybe. But if the indications were there that another team would have picked him up before the fourth, and if you strongly believe in your draft board, then i'm liking this pick. And let's face it, not utilizing a tight end wasn't working for us last year, so this means that changes will be made in our offense. Highly needed changes.

Don't forget that we drafted a pass rusher already. We drafted Schofield last year. It was a bonus that he played some games at the end of last year (and collected a couple of sacks to show a lot of promise).

A lot of the ILB's (Mario Harvey?) are still on the board.

Okay, the picks so far haven't been sexy or expected. Beanie Wells was a sexy pick. Cody Brown was a sexy pick ("yayyyy, finally a pass rusher drafted high, this must be a good one"). Time will tell.

Okay, enough for the positivism for now. I still say someone needs to be fired. Not for the this year's draft, but for the previous ones. On to day three.

 

[Seandonic]

Okay, now that the first phase of disappointment is gone, it's time for the feeling of hope to re-appear. And yes, i know i'm overly positive, and i know i shouldn't blindly 'trust in Whiz and the FO', after last year's debacle.

But PP7 in the first is an instant boost to our secondary. Shakes things up, DRC can't walk around like he's the best anymore and has to work for it to keep up. Plus a dynamic returner, great pick.

Ryan Williams is puzzling. The saddest thing is that it means that another high pick (Beanie) was wasted. But after multiple years of watching Timmie fumble at important times or watching Beanie fail to pick up the blitz and going down because of a shoestring tackle someting had to be done.

Housler is, well, let's call it unexpected. But if he's our Jermichael Finley, and we can line him up in the slot, and thus add a weapon for the development of Skelton, i'm all for it. Could he have been picked in the fourth? Maybe. But if the indications were there that another team would have picked him up before the fourth, and if you strongly believe in your draft board, then i'm liking this pick. And let's face it, not utilizing a tight end wasn't working for us last year, so this means that changes will be made in our offense. Highly needed changes.

Don't forget that we drafted a pass rusher already. We drafted Schofield last year. It was a bonus that he played some games at the end of last year (and collected a couple of sacks to show a lot of promise).

A lot of the ILB's (Mario Harvey?) are still on the board.

Okay, the picks so far haven't been sexy or expected. Beanie Wells was a sexy pick. Cody Brown was a sexy pick ("yayyyy, finally a pass rusher drafted high, this must be a good one"). Time will tell.

Okay, enough for the positivism for now. I still say someone needs to be fired. Not for the this year's draft, but for the previous ones. On to day three.

Best player in the entire draft was arguably Peterson and he is now a Cardinal. Enough said.

I am BEYOND sick of Hightower and his fumbles and inconsistent play. He is not under contract and I hope he is gone due to this replacement: Ryan Williams!

TE has been a sore spot for YEARS on this team and finally they did something about it. I say...GOOD! Is this the guy? A bit of an over draft IMHO, but we'll see.

I am confident that QB will be handled (albeit most likely cheaply with Bulger) via free-agency or trade.

One thing I am highly concerned about is the ILB and especially the OLB situations. Is anything going to be done? Hopefully in free-agency. How do you run a 3-4 D with no LB's?

 

[Crazy Canuck]

Best player in the entire draft was arguably Peterson and he is now a Cardinal. Enough said.

I am BEYOND sick of Hightower and his fumbles and inconsistent play. He is not under contract and I hope he is gone due to this replacement: Ryan Williams!

TE has been a sore spot for YEARS on this team and finally they did something about it. I say...GOOD! Is this the guy? A bit of an over draft IMHO, but we'll see.

I am confident that QB will be handled (albeit most likely cheaply with Bulger) via free-agency or trade.

One thing I am highly concerned about is the ILB and especially the OLB situations. Is anything going to be done? Hopefully in free-agency. How do you run a 3-4 D with no LB's?

Re: OLB - Sam Acho is still on the board going into the 4th. rd.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

Re: OLB - Sam Acho is still on the board going into the 4th. rd.

yeah, so what. The Cards have shown they don't know what the hell they're doing. Any imbecile would know to pick Peterson at 5. Let's not give Graves too much credit there. He was basically taking who fell to him.

 

[TRW]

My take is that with Peterson the draft is going to be a good one no matter who else they pick.

BUT, I think the Williams pick when there was a quality OLB there (who was picked right after the Cards took Williams) was a mistake.

The third round TE pick is just a "Who???!!!!" kind of reaction. Maybe he will turn out to be a real gem, don't know. Don't like the pick at all at first blush.

All in all, LOVE that they got Peterson and that will be an immediate help to the defense. Hope they can get a LB or 2 somewhere before the season begins.

 

[Dougmo]

I do love the Peterson pick but I'm with Cbus, anybody could have done that. But I think I'm turning to the darkside with Whiz & Co.
Williams may be good but that just means Beanie is a 1st round bust.
This Housler kid could also be good, and we could use a TE, but I would have felt better about Stocker.
I just can't believe we haven't addressed our pass rush. This isn't an area that can be addressed in free agency, whenever it does start.
I just don't get it.

 

[Cardiac]

The best news is that I was just okay with PP7 and confused by Ryan Williams and exasperated with the Housler pick. This is because when I like a pick it doesn't work out and when I don't it does work out.

The Patriots need a rush OLB just as much as we do and yet Bellicheat skipped over Brooks and whoever else everyone thought we should have drafted instead of Ryan in the 2nd. In fact with a ton of opportunities the Pats have selected zero OLBers in this darft. So the Cards and Pats are both idiots in this draft.

Stout has stated repeatedly (I agree with him on this) that with the CBA lockout any QB drafted this year will not help us this year. So everyone moaning about not pick a QB because it will doom us this year is simply over reacting. There is a reason Mallet fell until the 3rd rd. With back to back picks the Pats used the latter on Mallet in the 3rd rd. I wonder if that message was received by Mallet? Brady's team and locker room, no coke sniffing punk is gonna cause any trouble on that team. Pats at this point have extra picks to gamble with so they did.

How many fans complained because we don't run the ball enough? I'm telling you all we don't have a back that knows how to pick out the hole on a consistant basis. I watched the tape of him specifically looking to see if he was quick in picking out the hole and hitting it. Small sampling but I liked what I saw. His speed looked goodish but not great.

BPA seems to be the approach this year with a little less emphasis on need. Go into the draft and simply go BPA and then use FA to fill the holes that weren't addressed in the draft. To do this means Michael has promised Whiz that money will be spent this offseason.

I'm not thrilled with this draft but I'm not lynching anyone or throwing myself off a bridge.

Here comes day 3.

 

[D-Dogg]

Could he have been picked in the fourth? Maybe. But if the indications were there that another team would have picked him up before the fourth, and if you strongly believe in your draft board, then i'm liking this pick.

Really good perspective on that pick. You have to strongly believe in your draft board, even if your fans might not.

 

[Mitch]

I like all three players---the talent is there.

But there were very talented pass rushers---at least one should have been taken.

 

[Totally_Red]

Thrilled with PP7 pick. It dramatically improves special teams and the secondary from game 1.

I'm OK with the Ryan Williams pick. Our running backs have not been reliable or consistent. It does make the team better if the draft evaluators have it right.

The third round pick is extremely puzzling. If he is another Boss, MAYBE it's ok, but Whis sure has changed his thinking on the tight end position.

The key is that free agency follows the draft this year. It is NOT necessary to address every need in the draft, especially the quarterback need. I get the sense that the Cardinals will be active for a change when the opportunity finally avails itself. One more thing, the draft is NOT complete. Some of the very best Cardinal picks have come in later rounds in their recent history.

 

[Cardiac]

I like all three players---the talent is there.

But there were very talented pass rushers---at least one should have been taken.

I have to ask why Billicheck didn't take any of them? The have as big a need for an OLB pass rusher as we do. There isn't an organization that puts more emphasis on value then the Pats.

 

[Cardiac]

Thrilled with PP7 pick. It dramatically improves special teams and the secondary from game 1.

I'm OK with the Ryan Williams pick. Our running backs have not been reliable or consistent. It does make the team better if the draft evaluators have it right.

The third round pick is extremely puzzling. If he is another Boss, MAYBE it's ok, but Whis sure has changed his thinking on the tight end position.

The key is that free agency follows the draft this year. It is NOT necessary to address every need in the draft, especially the quarterback need. I get the sense that the Cardinals will be active for a change when the opportunity finally avails itself. One more thing, the draft is NOT complete. Some of the very best Cardinal picks have come in later rounds in their recent history.

I agree. I'm thinking that it has been circumstance that the Cards haven't drafted a TE earlier in the draft then this year.

 

[Krangodnzr]

I have to ask why Billicheck didn't take any of them? The have as big a need for an OLB pass rusher as we do. There isn't an organization that puts more emphasis on value then the Pats.

Nice point.

IMO people on this board have vastly overrated the second tier of pass rushers in this draft. Guys like Brooks Reed, Sam Acho, etc. were likely much lower on the Cardinals board than Ryan Williams and Rob Housler.

Caveat: I didn't want to draft PP7, but that said I can agree that the guys is dynamite and will instantly improve the tackling and playmaking of our defense.

There was a reason that I wanted us to take Robert Quinn; IMO he is going to be the best pass rusher in this draft and Mike Mayock even said that if he meets his potential he will be. After Quinn, the fall off to Brooks Reed, Jabaal Sheard, etc was massive and the team didn't feel that any of them were as good as Ryan Williams is.

What Williams brings is an ability to make something out of nothing. Watch the tape of him in 2009; no RB on our roster has that ability. Wells and THT are both straight line runs who don't have the creativity that Williams brings. I wouldn't doubt that when Whisenhunt and the staff watched game film of our team that they saw many runs that our backs lost yardage on or gained a few yards that a better back would've produced more. Now we have that back on our team, and with THT and Wells still on the roster we have a nice blend of different abilities.

The lack of production from the TE position is likely due to the underwhelming talent we have there. After playing teams like GB and the Saints the past couple of years and getting burned by their TEs and having to scheme around them, the Cardinals decided that the need for an offensive playmaker was greater than the need for a third tier passrusher (Sam Acho? Bleeeech). The guy I liked best at our 3rd pick, Nate Irving, went off the board a few picks before us. IMO he was the only ILB worthy of a 1-3 round pick. And even if you liked Sheppard better he was gone too, so by that point in time we had little choice to address our OLB or ILB needs.

In summation, if we really wanted to draft a pass rusher, the best spot to do it was at #5. And arguably we got a better prospect than any of the pass rushers available.

 

[Goldfield]

Its clear to me that the approach to the draft is different this year because free agency follows the draft for once.

 

[Crazy Canuck]

yeah, so what. The Cards have shown they don't know what the hell they're doing. Any imbecile would know to pick Peterson at 5. Let's not give Graves too much credit there. He was basically taking who fell to him.

Right! They should fire Keim and his team, and hire some self appointed expert who combs the internet for opinion to to set their board.

 

[Cardiac]

Nice point.

IMO people on this board have vastly overrated the second tier of pass rushers in this draft. Guys like Brooks Reed, Sam Acho, etc. were likely much lower on the Cardinals board than Ryan Williams and Rob Housler.

Caveat: I didn't want to draft PP7, but that said I can agree that the guys is dynamite and will instantly improve the tackling and playmaking of our defense.

There was a reason that I wanted us to take Robert Quinn; IMO he is going to be the best pass rusher in this draft and Mike Mayock even said that if he meets his potential he will be. After Quinn, the fall off to Brooks Reed, Jabaal Sheard, etc was massive and the team didn't feel that any of them were as good as Ryan Williams is.

What Williams brings is an ability to make something out of nothing. Watch the tape of him in 2009; no RB on our roster has that ability. Wells and THT are both straight line runs who don't have the creativity that Williams brings. I wouldn't doubt that when Whisenhunt and the staff watched game film of our team that they saw many runs that our backs lost yardage on or gained a few yards that a better back would've produced more. Now we have that back on our team, and with THT and Wells still on the roster we have a nice blend of different abilities.

The lack of production from the TE position is likely due to the underwhelming talent we have there. After playing teams like GB and the Saints the past couple of years and getting burned by their TEs and having to scheme around them, the Cardinals decided that the need for an offensive playmaker was greater than the need for a third tier passrusher (Sam Acho? Bleeeech). The guy I liked best at our 3rd pick, Nate Irving, went off the board a few picks before us. IMO he was the only ILB worthy of a 1-3 round pick. And even if you liked Sheppard better he was gone too, so by that point in time we had little choice to address our OLB or ILB needs.

In summation, if we really wanted to draft a pass rusher, the best spot to do it was at #5. And arguably we got a better prospect than any of the pass rushers available.

The only thing I disagree with is the my point was Great and not just nice.

 

[Cardiac]

Its clear to me that the approach to the draft is different this year because free agency follows the draft for once.

This is a great point as well. We are not going to go Cody or Levi Brown anymore.

 

[MrYeahBut]

Right! They should fire Keim and his team, and hire some self appointed expert who combs the internet for opinion to to set their board.

Crazy, for me it's not so much that I think the Scarecrow from Whiz of Oz could make better pix, it has more to do with the results on the field. They could draft any small school stiff for all I care if the team won games, but they don't win with who they pick.





.

 

[clif]

The best news is that I was just okay with PP7 and confused by Ryan Williams and exasperated with the Housler pick. This is because when I like a pick it doesn't work out and when I don't it does work out.

The Patriots need a rush OLB just as much as we do and yet Bellicheat skipped over Brooks and whoever else everyone thought we should have drafted instead of Ryan in the 2nd. In fact with a ton of opportunities the Pats have selected zero OLBers in this darft. So the Cards and Pats are both idiots in this draft.

Stout has stated repeatedly (I agree with him on this) that with the CBA lockout any QB drafted this year will not help us this year. So everyone moaning about not pick a QB because it will doom us this year is simply over reacting. There is a reason Mallet fell until the 3rd rd. With back to back picks the Pats used the latter on Mallet in the 3rd rd. I wonder if that message was received by Mallet? Brady's team and locker room, no coke sniffing punk is gonna cause any trouble on that team. Pats at this point have extra picks to gamble with so they did.

How many fans complained because we don't run the ball enough? I'm telling you all we don't have a back that knows how to pick out the hole on a consistant basis. I watched the tape of him specifically looking to see if he was quick in picking out the hole and hitting it. Small sampling but I liked what I saw. His speed looked goodish but not great.

BPA seems to be the approach this year with a little less emphasis on need. Go into the draft and simply go BPA and then use FA to fill the holes that weren't addressed in the draft. To do this means Michael has promised Whiz that money will be spent this offseason.

I'm not thrilled with this draft but I'm not lynching anyone or throwing myself off a bridge.

Here comes day 3.

At some point you have to draft a QBOF. Yeah the guy may not be able to help you this year (regardless of lockout) but the sooner we get that guy the sooner we're going to solve the QB problem. Now I'm not saying that the answer was definetely out there in terms of available players, but I think the thought of skipping over players because of the lockout shortened offseason is a bad plan. You get the guy in here and get him a play book.

 

[Totally_Red]

A couple days before the draft Michael Lombardi had the Cardinals taking Kyle Rudolph in the second round. At the time, I thought it was bizarre that somebody so well plugged in as Lombardi, had us taking a tight end. It turns out he did know something, and his inside source was correct with the position, just wrong with the round and player.

 

[WildBB]

I think when we ship Beannie in a package to Cinncy, things will clear up here a bit.

I can see Palmer coming here.

 

[clif]

A couple days before the draft Michael Lombardi had the Cardinals taking Kyle Rudolph in the second round. At the time, I thought it was bizarre that somebody so well plugged in as Lombardi, had us taking a tight end. It turns out he did know something, and his inside source was correct with the position, just wrong with the round and player.

But Whiz's love affair with TE's is not a secret. How many has he drafted and signed since he's been here?

 

[Crazy Canuck]

Crazy, for me it's not so much that I think the Scarecrow from Whiz of Oz could make better pix, it has more to do with the results on the field. They could draft any small school stiff for all I care if the team won games, but they don't win with who they pick.
.

And... the issue, first and foremost was QB play, and that unfortunately could not be answered in this draft, according to their assessement.

We still have more than a few picks to hopefully help things out, and we will see what FA brings.

 

[RonF]

I like this draft also. Selecting Peterson as the BPA was not a bad pick considering he is one of the best DB available and no team can carry too many DBs.

Selecting Ryan Williams in the 2nd round can only increase the depth of our RBs. How many times last year did we have games where one or two backs were down with injuries? How many games did we win last year with a strong running game in the fourth quarter? Oh yes, I almost forgot, for you Adrian Peterson fans, he's been known to fumble the ball from time to time and been benched for it. In three years he fumbled the ball some 20 times. Give our guy a break. You can't have too many running backs.

This leaves us with our third round selection of picking a TE, who it seems, is very good at catching the ball down field. If we go to using two TEs for blocking on most downs just think of the carnage that your TE can do when he slips away from a block and catches the ball out in the open on third down. I know our guy is not known for his blocking but he can be taught how to do that. It's much tougher to teach someone to catch a ball and hang on to it, then to teach someone to learn blocking schemes and how to block the right man. This is one area that the Cards have consistently struggled with over the years.

Unorthodox maybe, but this old vet is starting to get excited that finally the Card coaching staff and management team have put some thought into their drafting plan as each position they have selected so far can be improved upon.

 

[Cardiac]

At some point you have to draft a QBOF. Yeah the guy may not be able to help you this year (regardless of lockout) but the sooner we get that guy the sooner we're going to solve the QB problem. Now I'm not saying that the answer was definetely out there in terms of available players, but I think the thought of skipping over players because of the lockout shortened offseason is a bad plan. You get the guy in here and get him a play book.

They did, his name is Skelton. I have been one of the biggest advocates for drafting a QBOTF but if none of the QB's this year show you more then Skelton then why bother drafting another developmental QB. As K9 has posted countless times there aren't enough reps on an NFL for 2 young QB's to be developed. I'm not all in on Skelton but I'm not drafting a QB just to draft a QB. Any QB taken this year would have a wasted year due to the current lockout. Let's see what we have in Skelton and if need be draft a youngin next year. K9 has also pointed out the getting Bulger or Hassleback or.... in FA would be very difficult if we had picked a QB earlier in the draft.