Arizona Cardinals 7-Round NFL Mock Draft
The Arizona Cardinals are coming off a solid, yet disappointing season in 2020. The team got off to a great start but combined with the inconsistencies on defense and Kliff Kingsbury’s questionable play-calling led to an 8-8 record and a missed playoff spot. It wasn’t all negative, however, as the Kyler Muray-De’Andre Hopkins duo had immediate chemistry. Unfortunately for Steve Keim and the Arizona Cardinals front office, it’s due or die time for them. 2021 has to be the season they make a playoff run, and given that they’ve already acquired J.J. Watt and Rodney Hudson this offseason, that looks like the team’s ultimate goal.
Given all of the veteran moves the team has made in recent years, they only have five selections in the 2021 NFL Draft, including a more than the 100-pick gap from 49 to 161. Nonetheless, the picks still need to be made and here is a realistic view of what the Arizona Cardinals could possibly do during draft weekend.
ROUND 1 (16) - Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina
With Cardinals legend Patrick Peterson now in Minnesota, Arizona’s cornerback room now consists of Byron Murphy, Robert Alford, Jace Whittaker, and Picasso Nelson. Not great - not great at all. Ideally, they would prefer to trade down and acquire more draft picks, but in this exercise, there are no trades. Arizona stays at 16 and selects Horn, whose fantastic 2020 season has propelled him to being many’s CB1 this draft cycle. A true man-to-man guy who plays with the type of ferocity and effort you want at the position, he’d be a day-one starter for the Redbirds and a very good one at that.
ROUND 2 (49) - Brevin Jordan, TE, Miami
Not that former tight end Dan Arnold (now with the Carolina Panthers) was anything special, but the gap left at TE is now even more monstrous. The Cardinals should be one the first teams to pounce on the position -outside of top-ten pick Kyle Pitts. Jordan would be an excellent fit in this offense as a receiving tight end who can work vertically and in the seams as well. A fantastic athlete with good RAC skills, he profiles very similarly to former Miami TE David Njoku.
ROUND 4 (161) - Chuba Hubbard, RB, Oklahoma State
With the loss of Kenya Drake this free agency, the Cardinals would be well equipped to add another player to their backfield with the underrated Chase Edmonds. Hubbard had the looks of a possible top-40 pick after his 2020 season, but injuries, opt-outs, and decreased production have killed his draft hype. Regardless, he is still a speed demon who always has the ability to bounce to the outside and score. He’s a boom-or-bust runner with a boom-or-bust profile.
ROUND 7 (245) - Brent Heggie, IOL, Florida
One of the most slept on sleeper prospects in this guard/center class, Heggie has 31 starts under his belt during his time at the University of Florida, and he was very impressive during the 2020 season. The redshirt senior only allowed one sack throughout the season, and his stance and movement skills are quite impressive. He’s never going to be the strongest guy in the world, but a player with his technique and experience is worthy of a shot in the seventh round.
ROUND 7 (249) - Anthony Hines II, LB, Texas A&M
Arizona caps off their draft with Hines, an uber-athletic linebacker who opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns. A full-time starter in 2017 and 2019 (injured in 2018), Hines possesses that sideline-to-sideline speed and developing instincts you want in a project linebacker on Day 3. Healthy is the key question, but the talent is evident.
QB | RB | FB | WR | iWR | TE | LT | RT | OG | OC | DT | NG | 3-4 DE | 4-3 DE | 3-4 OLB | 4-3 OLB | ILB | CB | iCB | FS | SS
View The NFL Draft Bible database, with over 15,000 NFL Draft prospects.
*Use the official Mock Draft tool of the NFL Draft Bible on NFLMockDraftDatabase.com
