NFL Execs React to Cardinals' Draft

The Arizona Cardinals had themselves a solid draft - according to most.

Dec 31, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Arizona Cardinals helmets on the bench against the / Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals finished the 2024 NFL Draft with some impressive players - and numbers.

The Cardinals walked away with 12 total selections, the most of any team in the league while also securing the most picks for a single team since 1992.

Arizona drafted seven players in the first 90 picks - which included two first-round selections.

The Athletic recently spoke with anonymous NFL executives on each team's draft - here's what was said on Arizona's haul:

The Cardinals were first set up for success thanks to a prior trade with the Houston Texans in 2023. Through all the wheeling and dealing, one league executive (all of which are anonymous) says they would have simply stayed at No. 3 last year and taken edge Will Anderson.

“I’d rather have Will Anderson, but you have to know your team, too,” one exec said. “They might have wasted four years of Will Anderson while constructing their roster.”

This year, the Cardinals stuck and took Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr. - which was the right move according to another league exec:

“If (Harrison) turns out to be less than what you hoped, no one is going to say you tried to outsmart yourself,” they said. “If you bust going away from the consensus best player at a position, people will say, ‘You dumbass, everyone knew Marvin Harrison was going to be great.'”

It was a haul that was much needed from top to bottom:

“That is well-played because they need as many NFL-quality players as they can get,” said a third exec.