AZ Cardinals' first round picks

[Cardsmasochist]

Besides Patrick Peterson in 2011, you have to go all the way back to 2004 when the Cardinals drafted Larry Fitzgerald to find a GREAT first round pick. There were a lot of busts on the below list (Leinart) and some were ok. Others were plagued by injuries (Cooper, Nkemdiche and Humphries) while others will always be compared to who we should have drafted (Adrian Peterson instead of Levi Brown).

I hope Reddick turns into a great player, I am just worried that we will regret letting the Texans trade up to snatch Deshaun Watson right before us in the draft this year. Watson looks like he will be a great franchise QB, while Reddick has a lot to prove.

2004 Larry Fitzgerald Pittsburgh WR
2005 Antrel Rolle Miami CB
2006 Matt Leinart USC QB
2007 Levi Brown Penn State LT
2008 Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie Tennessee State CB
2009 Beanie Wells Ohio State RB
2010 Dan Williams Tennessee DT
2011 Patrick Peterson LSU CB
2012 Michael Floyd Notre Dame WR
2013 Jonathan Cooper North Carolina OG
2014 Deone Bucannon Washington State University S
2015 D. J. Humphries Florida OT
2016 Robert Nkemdiche Ole Miss DT
2017 Haason Reddick Temple LB

 

[BigRedRage]

Rolle and Crom had long careers, they were good picks IMO.

Obviously Leinart and Wells didn't work out but at the time they felt like good picks.

Dan Williams is serviceable and an end of 1st round pick, basically a 2nd round guy.

Floyd was a decent pick and played well for a while, crazy how fast his career ended.

Hump looks great when healthy, next year is a big year for him.

 

[Cardsmasochist]

Rolle and Crom had long careers, they were good picks IMO.

Obviously Leinart and Wells didn't work out but at the time they felt like good picks.

Dan Williams is serviceable and an end of 1st round pick, basically a 2nd round guy.

Floyd was a decent pick and played well for a while, crazy how fast his career ended.

Hump looks great when healthy, next year is a big year for him.

I was upset when we traded DRC for Kevin Kolb. Antrelle Rolle was very good.
I liked Dan Williams. He was very good but not great. Floyd let down his team-mates when he was not ready to address is alcohol problem. Humphries looks good when healthy, but that's the problem. He's hurt a lot. This thread was meant to show how often the Cardinals drafted a GREAT first round pick. I only see 2 since 2014.

 

[BigRedRage]

I liked Dan Williams. He was very good but not great. Floyd let down his team-mates when he was not ready to address is alcohol problem. Humphries looks good when healthy, but that's the problem. He's hurt a lot. This thread was meant to show how often the Cardinals drafted a GREAT first round pick. I only see 2 since 2014.

What is the criteria for great? HOF worthy?

Rolle and DRC lasted a real long time in the league as starters. they are nowhere near HOF and we let them walk but they continued to play at a high level afterward.

 

[Finito]

You can pretty much play this game with every team in the NFL. The draft is a flat out crap shoot

That list is a mixed bag between hall of famers and bust.

Hindsight is always 20/20 take Matt Lienart for example at the time of that draft that was 100% the right pick to make.

The Jonathon Cooper draft was the weakest draft in recent memory and he was the highest rated guard in like 20 years.

No one really knows anything when it comes to the draft

 

[BleedRed]

You can pretty much play this game with every team in the NFL. The draft is a flat out crap shoot

That list is a mixed bag between hall of famers and bust.

Hindsight is always 20/20 take Matt Lienart for example at the time of that draft that was 100% the right pick to make.

The Jonathon Cooper draft was the weakest draft in recent memory and he was the highest rated guard in like 20 years.

No one really knows anything when it comes to the draft

Agreed, if the draft was held every year at the end of the bowl season, picks would be very different and I think teams would be making much better choices. The problem is you have months to analyze and over analyze every aspect of a player to the point that his on the field production is no longer what scouts and GMs are looking at.

 

[Arz101]

Is it me or Cards have done well looking at that list?

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Is it me or Cards have done well looking at that list?

No pro-bowlers taken in the 1st round in the past 5 drafts. That's not necessarily good.

 

[DVontel]

DRC & Rolle were good players. Not HOF-worthy, but good players.

 

[Finito]

No pro-bowlers taken in the 1st round in the past 5 drafts. That's not necessarily good.

Bucannon, Humphries and Nkemdiche all drafted in the mid-late 20s

 

[Cardsmasochist]

Yeah, the point was that the Cardinals haven't had a lot of luck drafting great players in the first round.

 

[oaken1]

Looks like a pretty damned good list to me. Anybody expecting Hall of famers every three years and pro bowlers every other year...well,...uh,....is an idiot I guess
its arguable that there is not a single legit "bust" on that list...even though I would love to say nkemdiche is.....but technically its still too early to tell on him

 

[football karma]

shouldnt a baseline be established first?

like:

last 10 years, probability of all-pro 1st or 2nd team (tops at his position) or pro-bowl (hardly perfect,but its something objective) appearance.

all-pro says you hit a home run
pro-bowl says you got a top 1/3 at his position kind of player


then i think you have to split the 1st round into tiers:

1-10
11-21
22-32

give me that, and then we can decide if the Cards draft well

 

[Southpaw]

Besides Patrick Peterson in 2011, you have to go all the way back to 2004 when the Cardinals drafted Larry Fitzgerald to find a GREAT first round pick. There were a lot of busts on the below list (Leinart) and some were ok. Others were plagued by injuries (Cooper, Nkemdiche and Humphries) while others will always be compared to who we should have drafted (Adrian Peterson instead of Levi Brown).

I hope Reddick turns into a great player, I am just worried that we will regret letting the Texans trade up to snatch Deshaun Watson right before us in the draft this year. Watson looks like he will be a great franchise QB, while Reddick has a lot to prove.

2004 Larry Fitzgerald Pittsburgh WR
2005 Antrel Rolle Miami CB
2006 Matt Leinart USC QB
2007 Levi Brown Penn State LT
2008 Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie Tennessee State CB
2009 Beanie Wells Ohio State RB
2010 Dan Williams Tennessee DT
2011 Patrick Peterson LSU CB
2012 Michael Floyd Notre Dame WR
2013 Jonathan Cooper North Carolina OG
2014 Deone Bucannon Washington State University S
2015 D. J. Humphries Florida OT
2016 Robert Nkemdiche Ole Miss DT
2017 Haason Reddick Temple LB

Hurts my eyes to look at that list.

 

[WisconsinCard]

You can pretty much play this game with every team in the NFL. The draft is a flat out crap shoot

That list is a mixed bag between hall of famers and bust.

Hindsight is always 20/20 take Matt Lienart for example at the time of that draft that was 100% the right pick to make.

The Jonathon Cooper draft was the weakest draft in recent memory and he was the highest rated guard in like 20 years.

No one really knows anything when it comes to the draft

Exactly and that is why I don't get the tank for a better pick mentality.

 

[WindCardinal]

To be fair Cooper is playing pretty well for Dallas

 

[oaken1]

Exactly and that is why I don't get the tank for a better pick mentality.

because earlier picks generally have more success.... although the QB's do bring that reality down some...
One of the biggest issues with AZ is we are always picking around 15-20... the "sure fire" guys are gone...
Look at the list up there...see our two HoF guys??
Larry was picked at 3,...while PP21 was picked at 5.....

those are the types of guys you have shots at with a higher pick...the further you get out of that top 5,...then that top 10...the far less likely you are of drafting a pro bowler or hall of fame type guy.
crap shoots,...yeah...of course hall of famers and pro bowlers were picked in every round.... but the plain basic fact is the guys at the top of the draft are there for a reason and even if you dont get a HoF guy you should at least get a guy with an extremely high floor, a guy who you can be certain WILL produce for your team.

 

[SissyBoyFloyd]

Let's face it, some team's like the Cowboys do better at evaluating talent. They have always been good at it ever since they became the first team to use computers to assist in that process. I don't call it luck, that's for sure. The Cards just haven't been very good or inciteful when picking, and especially in knowing when it is in their best interest to move up or down in the draft. I hate mediocrity, so this is just another thing that makes it so hard to be a Cardinal fan.

 

[oaken1]

Let's face it, some team's like the Cowboys do better at evaluating talent. They have always been good at it ever since they became the first team to use computers to assist in that process. I don't call it luck, that's for sure. The Cards just haven't been very good or inciteful when picking, and especially in knowing when it is in their best interest to move up or down in the draft. I hate mediocrity, so this is just another thing that makes it so hard to be a Cardinal fan.

I would say the redbirds drafting has been in fact very inciteful....
but not very insightful...

 

[SissyBoyFloyd]

I would say the redbirds drafting has been in fact very inciteful....
but not very insightful...

I struggles with my inept spellchecker over that word. Finally gave up and took a guess.

 

[Red Bird]

Rolle looks like a good pick until you realize we passed on Aaron Rodgers to take him. Oops

 

[Southpaw]

and the Patriots hate 1st round picks. Trade down for value.

 

[football karma]

Rolle looks like a good pick until you realize we passed on Aaron Rodgers to take him. Oops

yep

as good as Denny was on draft day --

he did pass up on Phillip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger (2004) and Aaron Rogers (2005) -- because he had Josh McCown

at least in 2004 he took a future Hall of Famer.....