Mitch

I couldn't help but agree with Peter King who wrote in his outstanding Monday Morning QB column that he won't give out draft grades because it's kind of like "giving kids grades on the first day of school."

We all know that we will not be able to accurately assess this year's draft for another 4-5 years. However, what I am going to assess was the Cardinals' preparation and thinking process as they conducted this year's draft---and in consideration of those aspects, I give the Cardinals an A.

Here are the reasons why:

1. Michael Floyd, WR, Notre Dame. After drafting Patrick Peterson as a "difference maker" last year the Cardinals learned something very valuable---that in the first round you want to draft a player who even as a rookie can be a "difference maker." Floyd fits that bill. And the Cardinals did their homework on him---they interviewed him at the combine and they had him in for a pre-draft visit. There were plenty of questions about Floyd's off the field issues and the Cardinals were very up front with him. They came away from the interviews feeling convinced that Floyd has matured significantly over the past year, something that Brian Kelly his head coach at Notre Dame has emphatically supported.

The only other player who made sense at this pick was OLB Melvin Ingram---and as much as I drool over the immense talent this kid has, what made the evaluation of him so difficult is that he played all over the place at South Carolina---and actually he did most of his damage playing DT of all things, where he was unblockable. Projecting him to starting SOLB was a bit of a stretch---and with the Chargers we will see if he can make the transition. We already know he can rush the passer...but can he be a full-time OLB?

The other thing about Floyd versus Ingram is Floyd's consistency over the course of 4 years---Ingram's success at South Carolina was very recent. In fact, in looking at Phil Steele's college football pre-season position rankings---Ingram shows up as the #39 defensive tackle.

Michael Floyd was in Steele's top 4 WRs the past three years.

2. Jamell Fleming, CB, Oklahoma. I applaud this pick---it was the gutsiest of the draft for the Cardinals because you just know they wanted to take an offensive lineman or a pass rusher here---and yet they stayed true to their draft board and took the BPA. This kid is such a good fit---and now we know why the Cardinals decided they weren't going to pay Richard Marshall $6M a year---Fleming has the tools and the moxie to be a better pro---he's far more flexible and has much better ball skills than Marshall.

3. Bobbie Massey, T, Mississippi. Here is why patience is a virtue. Amazingly the perfect fit RT in this draft, more so than Reiff or the others, dropped right into their laps. This pick makes the Floyd and Fleming choices even more wise. Tremendous value at this spot.

4. Senio Kelemete, G, Washington. Again, the Cardinals are getting outstanding value in this player who is one of the more athletic offensive linemen in the draft, and had he played his natural position of guard at Washington, he might have been a 2nd round selection. He dropped a little because he projects inside---but there's no tape of him inside, so teams can only speculate. But---we have the BEST coach of guards in the NFL, hands down.

5. Justin Bethel, CB/S, Presyterian. This pick was sensational---for one is he is going to be a superb STs player as a gunner and yet another threat to block kicks from the edge. Secondly, having shown a knack for scouting players from small schools in the recent past in Hightower and Toler, here is a kid who is not just a fast athlete, he is a good tackler and ball hawk.

6. Ryan Lindley, QB, San Diego St. What impressed me so much about this pick was having watched the SDSU tapes from last year to see what we had in WR DeMarco Sampson, I came away thinking man this Lindley kid is good. Any time you have a QB who can feed two WRs for over 1,000 yards in a season as Lindley did with Vincent Brown and DeMarco Sampson, you have quite a prospect on your hands. And while some are scrutinizing his 53% completion percentage this past year---Lindley had no experience at all at WR to throw to---4 career catches among them going into the season. The fact that Lindley still put up good yards and a very positive TD/int ratio speaks a great deal about his talent. That and, Bill Polian and Ron Jaworski, two of the best film evaluators in the football world, like this kid a lot---this in itself says a great deal. BTW, so does Peter King who lauds the pick on his MMQB article today. Plus---better to draft a QB this year and get him into the system with all the questions surrounding Kevin Kolb. To get Lindley at this point in the draft---and a QB who had the strongest arm in the draft---is a major accomplishment.

7. Nate Potter, T, Boise St. Talk about value---and what this pick said to me is the Cardinals stayed true to their draft board with EVERY pick in this draft. I think ideally they would have liked to take a linebacker here---but with Potter sitting there, they took the BPA. Get this---people can say what they want about Potter not being strong enough---which I NEVER saw on tape and I saw almost every Boise St. game the past three years, with one of the smallest and most immobile QBs in college football, the Boise St. offensive line, led by Potter, gave up a paltry 0.67 sacks per game---best in college football. The fact too that Potter will now join fellow Boise St. alum Daryn Colledge---there will be some great bonding there.

In general, what I laud about the Cardinals' decision making is that:

A. They were incredibly patient. They must have been as anxious as we were or more, going though the 57 picks between the 13th and the 80th---but they stayed the course and still trusted their board.

B. NONE of the Cardinals' selections were a reach---in fact you could argue that ALL of the picks were steals. There were many mock drafts where all of the Cardinals' selections were taken earlier and were projected to go in some cases, MUCH earlier. This deserves an A in itself.

C. As Kent Somers so astutely points out in his blog today, the Cardinals took "veteran rookies"---I mean, look at the career games and starts these players had:

Floyd: 42 starts at Notre Dame.
Fleming: played in 51 games with 24 starts at Oklahoma. Two time Bowl MVP the past two years.
Massie: 37 games, 29 starts in 3 years (came out as a junior).
Kelemete: 41 starts---2 year captain.
Bethel: 43 starts
Lindley: 49 starts at QB
Potter: 42 starts---even started as a freshman at Boise St.

As hard as it is to feel real good as a Cardinal fan, as accustomed as we are to feeling skeptical and paranoid---I wish to say that about this draft we can feel especially good.

Sure---I wish we had taken a pass rusher---but I think the Cardinals know that the way the draft works they will have to take one in the first or early second round to get a real good one---and I bet that is the feature item on the menu for next year---and a full slate of picks (thanks to no panic moves) to work with.

This is an A draft. And, as my long-time coaching mentor, Miles Hubbard, always said, "it's OK...to get a little excited."

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only1one

earthsci

I mentioned on Friday that the Cards must have really, REALLY, REALLY liked this kid. The Cardinals turned in their pick for him immediately after the Bears pick was made. They didn't wait for any offers or to think anything over.

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gmabel830

Cards did this with almost all of their picks, it seemed like. Which suggests that they had a clear strategy - take the BPA - and stuck with that strategy. They clearly thought there was a player there worth for the taking at each pick and didn't wait around to see if the phone would ring to make them re-consider anything.

Cardiac

Good follow up post on the Draft. Mitch.

What Horton has shown us already is that he knows how to take the talent on hand and get the most out of them.

While some of us thought the return of Toler and addition of Gay would be enough to keep and even upgrade the DB's Horton obviously didn't agree with this. The number of Safety's that we brought in and interviewed during FA and the predraft process speaks to this.

What this means to me is that during the predraft meetings and setting of the board Horton prioritized what positions he wanted addressed knowing their are only so many bullets in his gun.

Very wordy way of my saying Horton is more comfortable with the LBer unit then he was with the DB unit.

Horton further realizes that without a 2nd rd pick and the lack of depth for pass rushers in this draft that rd1 was the best chance to get one or possibly 3rd rd if someone slid.
Give a little to get a little, or a lot. I'll take 2 DB's over 1 pass rusher please.

4 new DB's have been added through FA and the draft and zero pass rushers. Horton is more concerned about the back end then the front seven.

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And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw around.

Pink Floyd

Russ Smith

I actually don't like that. You're on the clock so nobody else can pick the guy out from under you unless you run out of time. I think it's actually worth seeing if anybody does have interest and if the trade is worth considering.

There's a blurb from a GM I just read where he said he was trying to move up to get a player and called Denver to see about it. Denver was picking right in front and the GM told him don't worry, we're not picking him. The guy said he was amazed, couldn't believe another GM wouldn't try to get an extra pick out of him.

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“Your expectations always exceed outside expectations. I feel like you just can’t stop working, can’t stop getting better, because I’ll be a failure in my eyes before I’m a failure in someone else’s eyes.” -- Arron Afflalo

Mitch

These are especially astute points, Cardiac. Horton knows how to manufacture pressure---that's what his system is all about---what he needs now is to make sure he has the athletes and playmakers in the secondary to make the defense prolific.

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only1one

Cardiac

I'm pretty sure Russ that teams call about wanting to trade up for that slot 10 to 20 minutes before. I doubt the Cards took the phone of the hook.

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And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw around.

Pink Floyd

Mitch

We are talking about taking a QB at this pick---one that the scouts have been following closely for a few years. Heck yeah---rush that pick to the podium.

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only1one

Russ Smith

Because some other team is going to get ahead of you?

That's the point, it can't hurt to see if anybody else has interest and is willing to give up a pick to get your pick.

If you prefer the player you still take him but if you don't ask, you never know what you could have had.

It's great as a fan to see the picks come off quickly makes the process smooth, but just pulling the next name off your board without talking to other teams is almost like fantasy football on auto draft.

It's great they have a clear board and stick to the board, but it's at least worth seeing what might get offered.

IMO.

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“Your expectations always exceed outside expectations. I feel like you just can’t stop working, can’t stop getting better, because I’ll be a failure in my eyes before I’m a failure in someone else’s eyes.” -- Arron Afflalo

JAB

A very nice read excellent thread fellows.

slinslin

They got the probably best WR in the draft, 3 offensive lineman, 2 cornerbacks and a quarterback and did not reach.

All I need to know.

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Tier 1 Noel and McLemore
Tier 2 Oladipo, Porter, Shabazz and Burke
Tier 3 McCollum, Caldwell-Powell, Gobert, Schroeder

MrYeahbut

Whiz was just on NFL channel and he said Floyd was #7 on their board and he was basically the highest rated player when they were on the clock.

So much coachspeak, but he was asked about Fitz wanting Floyd and his response was everybody wanted the best player and Fitz didn't lobby specifically for him.


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PACardsFan

Very nice Mitch! Your assessments are dead on! I'm extremely confident in saying that Floyd will have as great an impact THIS year as anyone in this draft. Adding him to our receiving mix will raise Kolb & Skelton's completion % by at least 5 points. May not seem like a lot, but it is!

Vermont Maverick

If the guy you want is that far ahead of the next player - to the point that you couldn't make a reasonable trade request to give him up, you may as well just take him. I also think it shows the player that you really want him.

Some have said we rushed to the podium with every pick, but I think we took some time with Floyd. I'm sure they thought St. Louis would take him, especially with Cox off the board, but it appears they at least listened with that pick.

Mitch- I'm okay with the Lindley pick. At that point in the draft, the best you can typically hope for is a special teamer, so what not take a Tom Brady-shot-in-the-dark. However, I have a question. In all the footage I saw of this guy, I did not once see him throw a spiral. Has anybody seen him throw one?

red desert

Nice read, Mitch.