Arizona Cardinals Trade Up to Pick Gators CB Marco Wilson in NFL Draft

The Florida Gators continue to see its players fly off the draft board with cornerback Marco Wilson the latest to be selected.

Following a trade-up for his services, Florida Gators cornerback Marco Wilson has officially been selected by the Arizona Cardinals with the 136th overall pick in the fourth round the 2021 NFL Draft. He becomes the fourth Florida player to be selected in this year's draft, and the first defender to be selected out of this year's crop of Gators prospects.

Arizona sent its fifth round pick and a 2022 fourth rounder to Baltimore in exchange for the Ravens fourth and sixth round picks this year in order to select Wilson.

Over the past four years, Wilson had become a staple within the Florida defense, starting as a true freshman in 2017, something that only Joe Haden (2007), Janoris Jenkins (2008) and Marcus Roberson (2011) had achieved prior to himself. No Florida cornerback has accomplished that feat since.

Wilson, 5-foot-11, 193 pounds would start for Florida for much of his career but would miss much of his sophomore season due to injuries. During his freshman season, Wilson showed off what made him so impressive coming out of high school.

Featuring plenty of athleticism, Wilson accounted for 34 tackles and a team-high 10 pass breakups, the most by a true freshman at Florida since Vernon Hargreaves recorded 11 in 2013.

Over the next two seasons following his injury-burdened 2018 campaign, Wilson was able to progress slowly, starting all 13 games in 2019, while recording 36 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions and two pass breakups.

The expectation for the 2020 season was for Wilson to raise his level of play even further, however that didn't go quite as planned. Last season, the Florida defensive secondary performed rather poorly, as did the entirety of SEC defenses.

Due to struggles at safety, along with his own lapses in coverage, Wilson didn't see the rise one would expect given his play previously in his career.

That didn't ultimately prevent Wilson from being selected, however, especially following perhaps one of the most impressive Pro Day showcasing a Florida player has had in its history.

Wilson's numbers were so good that he scored a 9.99 out of 10.00 in RAS (relative athletic score). That is ranked No. 3 out of 1784 cornerbacks from 1987 to 2021. Simply put, he is a freak athletically and because of that, could be selected higher than some would believe prior to his pro day.

Wilson ran a blazing 4.37 40-yard-dash while jumping an incredible 43.5 inches in the vertical jump, an athletic freak.

Now, Wilson is on his way to the NFL, ready to take on a new journey similar to what his brother, Quincy Wilson, did in 2017.