Cards may swap No. 6 pick
By Darren Urban, Tribune
The Arizona Cardinals’ draft apparently still hinges on whether they want Terrell Suggs.
Once believed to be the answer to the Cards’ crying pass-rush needs if he was available at No. 6 in today’s NFL draft, the former ASU star isn’t the lock he once was to stay home.
Maybe the Cards will still take him — he is expected to be available. But the Cards have spent the last two days talking with many other teams about trades, planning for a draft day that might not include Suggs or the No. 6 pick.
“Right now we are preparing for several different scenarios and being comfortable with them,” Cardinals vice president of football operations Rod Graves said late Friday afternoon. “That includes staying (at No. 6) and making that selection.”
If the Cards stay at No. 6 and assuming the top five players picked follow conventional wisdom — Carson Palmer, Charles Rogers, Andre Johnson, Dwayne Robertson and Terence Newman — Arizona is expected to choose between Suggs and Washington State cornerback Marcus Trufant. But there are more than a few trade possibilities out there for the Cardinals. Graves said if the Cards make a trade, it is “50-50” it would occur before the start of the draft today.
Most of the possible deals, however, are based on waiting until the Cardinals’ 15 minutes on the clock are under way. If a certain player is available, then a team may be willing to offer something to Arizona.
“They want to see what happens ahead of us, and that goes both ways,” Graves said. “Much of (the top five picks) dictate whether we want to stay there.”
One reported possibility has New Orleans, which has coveted Trufant, offering Arizona its two first-round picks — No. 17 and 18 — for the Cards’ No. 6 pick. Graves said while he has talked to the Saints, they had not indicated they were willing to do a trade.
“Unless the team is willing to say, ‘OK, we’ll do a deal,’ then they are exploring, just like everyone else,” Graves said.
Graves said he believes there is value later in the first round if the Cards do trade down.
But it will be harder to find a potential impact pass rusher such as Suggs.
“Common sense tells you we need to get a pass rush,” Cardinals linebacker Raynoch Thompson said. “Hopefully we can land Terrell Suggs. People have been talking about his 40 time; I don’t believe in 40 times. I’ve seen that guy play. I hope we get him here and don’t trade down and pass up a guy like that.”
Suggs hurt himself with two separate workouts, running the 40-yard dash in times around 4.8 seconds when he was expected to run around 4.65. “If Arizona passes on Suggs, we know why,” ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper said. There are many productive pass rushers who didn’t have fast 40 times before the draft. Darren Howard dropped to the second round because of his time of 5.03, yet had 11 sacks for New Orleans as a rookie.
Michael Strahan, the single-season sacks record holder, ran 4.96 and 4.89 at the combine in 1993. San Diego’s Marcellus Wiley ran 4.89 and 4.94 in the 1997 combine.
And while no one questions Simeon Rice’s ability to get to a quarterback, Rice ran a 4.84 and 4.89 at the 1996 combine. That didn’t scare the Cardinals at the time, because they picked Rice third overall that season. Maybe that history could influence the choice of staying put and getting an impact player.
“To me, there is a certain value in being where we are at No. 6 and making a choice,” Graves said. “We know we will get a good football player.”
EXTRA POINT: Graves said running back Thomas Jones could be a part of a trade today. Graves declined to comment how many teams are interested in Jones other than Kansas City, which has publicly said it was looking at Jones
By Darren Urban, Tribune
The Arizona Cardinals’ draft apparently still hinges on whether they want Terrell Suggs.
Once believed to be the answer to the Cards’ crying pass-rush needs if he was available at No. 6 in today’s NFL draft, the former ASU star isn’t the lock he once was to stay home.
Maybe the Cards will still take him — he is expected to be available. But the Cards have spent the last two days talking with many other teams about trades, planning for a draft day that might not include Suggs or the No. 6 pick.
“Right now we are preparing for several different scenarios and being comfortable with them,” Cardinals vice president of football operations Rod Graves said late Friday afternoon. “That includes staying (at No. 6) and making that selection.”
If the Cards stay at No. 6 and assuming the top five players picked follow conventional wisdom — Carson Palmer, Charles Rogers, Andre Johnson, Dwayne Robertson and Terence Newman — Arizona is expected to choose between Suggs and Washington State cornerback Marcus Trufant. But there are more than a few trade possibilities out there for the Cardinals. Graves said if the Cards make a trade, it is “50-50” it would occur before the start of the draft today.
Most of the possible deals, however, are based on waiting until the Cardinals’ 15 minutes on the clock are under way. If a certain player is available, then a team may be willing to offer something to Arizona.
“They want to see what happens ahead of us, and that goes both ways,” Graves said. “Much of (the top five picks) dictate whether we want to stay there.”
One reported possibility has New Orleans, which has coveted Trufant, offering Arizona its two first-round picks — No. 17 and 18 — for the Cards’ No. 6 pick. Graves said while he has talked to the Saints, they had not indicated they were willing to do a trade.
“Unless the team is willing to say, ‘OK, we’ll do a deal,’ then they are exploring, just like everyone else,” Graves said.
Graves said he believes there is value later in the first round if the Cards do trade down.
But it will be harder to find a potential impact pass rusher such as Suggs.
“Common sense tells you we need to get a pass rush,” Cardinals linebacker Raynoch Thompson said. “Hopefully we can land Terrell Suggs. People have been talking about his 40 time; I don’t believe in 40 times. I’ve seen that guy play. I hope we get him here and don’t trade down and pass up a guy like that.”
Suggs hurt himself with two separate workouts, running the 40-yard dash in times around 4.8 seconds when he was expected to run around 4.65. “If Arizona passes on Suggs, we know why,” ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper said. There are many productive pass rushers who didn’t have fast 40 times before the draft. Darren Howard dropped to the second round because of his time of 5.03, yet had 11 sacks for New Orleans as a rookie.
Michael Strahan, the single-season sacks record holder, ran 4.96 and 4.89 at the combine in 1993. San Diego’s Marcellus Wiley ran 4.89 and 4.94 in the 1997 combine.
And while no one questions Simeon Rice’s ability to get to a quarterback, Rice ran a 4.84 and 4.89 at the 1996 combine. That didn’t scare the Cardinals at the time, because they picked Rice third overall that season. Maybe that history could influence the choice of staying put and getting an impact player.
“To me, there is a certain value in being where we are at No. 6 and making a choice,” Graves said. “We know we will get a good football player.”
EXTRA POINT: Graves said running back Thomas Jones could be a part of a trade today. Graves declined to comment how many teams are interested in Jones other than Kansas City, which has publicly said it was looking at Jones
