I have been participating in a mock draft as the general manager of the Arizona Cardinals. The game finished recently (actually it has not finished yet. I just don’t have a pick in the seventh round) so it should reflect quite precisely on how I rank the prospects, and what I think the Cardinals should do.
I thought I would pass along how it went, and offer you my thoughts on each pick. If you don’t want to read it, or don’t want to spend the time to scroll down far enough, here are the end result:
1st round – defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss
3rd round – quarterback Dak Prescott, Mississippi State
4th round – cornerback Eric Murray, Minnesota
5th round – inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, West Virginia
5th round – cornerback Ryan Smith, North Carolina Central
6th round – center Marcus Henry, Boise State
Here is the entire draft: http://americanfootball.freeforums.org/gm-mock-ii-2016-drafttraden-t594.html
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1st round – defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss
I realize it is a controversial selection but please let me try to explain it.
First of all, I simply think that Nkemdiche is a fantastic talent. I think all the negativity about his play at Ole Miss is highly exaggerated, and I believe that anyone who are criticizing his production should look at his tape once again. Nkemdiche was facing double- and triple-teams on nearly every single play and he was still disruptive and effected the offensive game-plan more often than not. On the few occasion where he did not receive extra attention from the offensive line, he dominated to a degree that I have not seen in the NCAA since Ndamukong Suh was a senior at Nebraska. Yeah, he probably took some plays off but certainly not more than basically every stud player does.
Now, obviously he is a very risky selection because of his off the field stuff, and I am very aware that he might never be the difference maker that I envision. Having said that, I’m not so sure that he actually is a bad guy. I mean, he might be the perfect guy to make smokescreens about, since you can say basically anything and it will to at least some degree sounds plausible. A lot of people have major interests in Nkemdiche sliding from the top five, where his talent suggest he should be drafted, down to the later stage of round one. As far as I know, he has never tested positive for any drugs, he has never been charged with DUI, he has never been accused of accepting benefits from supporters of the Ole Miss University. Yes, he is way too often in the media for the wrong reason, but it seems to me that no-one can prove that he has done anything wrong.
By the way, I know about the picture of him using some drug-tool, and I know about him jumping from a hotel balcony, but to me those are just stupid things that kids do. No, he shouldn’t have done those things but it happened and no-one got hurt.
As it relates to the Cardinals, I would not be that worried if they did select Nkemdiche. They obviously have a very strong locker-room with leaders across the board, and not at least in the defensive line-group where guys such as Cory Redding, Corey Peters, Calais Campbell, Red Bryant and Frostee Rucker are most definitely up to the task of learning any rookie how to be a professional. On top of that they have Bruce Arians and Brentson Buckner who certainly won’t let a rookie – much less a first round choice – give anything less than his best. Oh, and Arizona is a long way from Mississippi so Nkemdiche won’t be around the same people that might have been a distraction to him.
On the field I think that Nkemdiche could be a monster on the defensive line. I believe that he could be a defensive end in their base-defense and then move to defensive tackle in the nickel-defense. I could even see him play some nose guard and outside linebacker at times. He is that good.
Like I wrote earlier, I realize that this pick might never pan out, but to me it’s definitely worth taking a shot to maybe get a difference maker that could be the difference of losing the NFC-finale to the Panthers or going all the way and win the Super Bowl. In fact, in the real draft I believe it could easily be necessary to trade up in front of the Seahawks if Keim and Arians want Nkemdiche. My reasoning being that the Seahawks seemingly don’t care at all about their offensive line – the last couple of years they have departed with their stud center Max Unger, their great offensive tackle Russell Okung and their starting offensive guards J.R. Sweezy and James Carpenter, and they have replaced them with nobodies, including signing Bradley Sowell this offseason. Furthermore, neither do they seem to care if their first pick-rookies have any kind of character concern – in three of the last four drafts they have used their first selection on players with major problems outside the field, including two (Bruce Irvin and Frank Clark) whose character flaws make Nkemdiche look like a choirboy. Well, and they kind of need him after they lost Brandon Mebane in free agency.
Robert Nkemdiche might be the biggest boom-or-bust player in the entire draft (maybe other than Jaylon Smith), and I think it says a great deal about the state of the Cardinals that I would be ecstatic if they did use their first round-selection to acquire him. To me, it would be the draft-definition of “no risk it, no biscuit”.
3rd round – quarterback Dak Prescott, Mississippi State
Truth be told, it scared me to see Palmer’s meltdown in the championship game. Not so much because of the game itself – those things happen – but because it reminded me all too well of the times with Kevin Kolb, Ryan Lindley, John Skelton and the rest of all the bad quarterbacks who started for the Cardinals not that long ago. To me, the game served as sort of a wakeup call that we should be thrilled to have Palmer leading the way (regular season Palmer, that is), and how important it is to have his successor ready when he decides to retire. I believe that Matt Barkley could eventually be that guy, but that might be a longshot and I would definitely not put all my eggs in that basket.
I actually think Prescott’s value as a draft prospect is probably in the fourth round. I just really want him on my team, and I think that when you get that feeling toward a quarterback, you should not “play the draftgame” too much and risk losing out on the player. As a matter of fact, I did get an offer to trade back but if I took it I would pick nearly an entire round later, which I didn’t want. I can easily see that Prescott need a lot of work to play in the NFL, but I think it is truly remarkable and shows a lot of promise that he’s level of play now is lightyears ahead of what is was two years ago. He has improved so much that I believe it is worth using the resources on Prescott to see if he can become the franchise quarterback some years from now, and oh yeah, Bruce Arians and Tom Moore are not exactly the worst quarterback-coaches out there.
I ranked Prescott higher recently because of the things I just wrote, but now I have dropped him about two rounds because of the DUI. Drunk driving in itself is idiotic but when a draft prospect, let alone a quarterback, does it very close to the draft, well, I don’t have words for how stupid that is. I guess, though, that this time you can relate it to him being young and naïve, and that he is under heavy pressure. He better not do something like that as a professional.
4th round – cornerback Eric Murray, Minnesota
With the pick I was actually focused on drafting center Evan Boehm out of Missouri. He was on the board very close to my selection, and I just really like him. He might not be the greatest athlete in the world but he is as tough as they come, and I think he started at their offensive line as a freshman. On top of that, I believe he has been a team captain for years, and that he was one of the leaders and spokespersons in the media-turmoil first with the brave announcement from Michael Sam, and then last year during the huge racism-scandal. Anyway, unfortunately Boehm was picked just one spot ahead of me.
The primary reason that I wanted to pick a center with this selection was that I had four or five defensive backs rated about equally, so I thought that at least one of them would be available with my next pick. That plan was quickly changed, though. When Boehm was picked I try to move back a few spots but I guess that primarily due to the format of the game (people were simply not home by their computers) it was not possible.
I think that Eric Murray is the Cardinals-type of a defensive back. He is a very psychical cornerback who excels in press man coverage. He might not be the fastest, strongest, quickest or the one that jump highest but he does all of those things rather well, and though he’s not a ballhawk and probably won’t ever be a huge playmaker, he’s simply reliable and solid. While his physicality is his biggest strength, it might also become his biggest weakness since he could get a lot of penalties if he doesn’t learn to use his playing style correctly.
I believe that Murray would be in the rotation from day one, and that he could possibly turn into a really good #2 cornerback opposite Patrick Peterson, but if not, several scouts apparently believe he can be a safety in the NFL.
5th round – inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, West Virginia
Well, let my just start by writing that I am not a big fan of Kevin Minter, and even though he will probably play a lot this season, his contract is up afterwards. Personally, I wouldn’t re-sign him.
Kwiatkoski is a former safety turned linebacker, and it really shows in his athleticism as he can drop back in coverage and run sideline-to-sideline with ease. He was a starter for three years at West Virginia, and each season he was moved to a new one of their three linebacker-position - but still he lead the team in tackles every year. He does have some physical limitations (mainly, he might not be powerful enough) that could be too much to overcome, but I do think he has a chance to stick around.
I have already stated that I think Minter could be upgraded, but I also think it could be interesting to move Bucannon back to safety since it is his natural position. Obviously, none of us know if he can do it but there is clearly a place for him with Rashad Johnson and potentially Powers leaving. I know that some inside journalists have made it out to be a fact that Arians wants to keep Bucannon at linebacker, but have you seen the interview where he talks about that very subject? He specifically says that “right now” they will leave Bucannon at linebacker, and that he will “probably” play there this season. Not only is that nowhere near a definitive statement but this is also the season for smokescreens and lies. Remember how Arians said they certainly would not draft a quarterback the day before they selected Logan Thomas?
I like Kwiatkoski but most likely he would need to make the team through playing special teams, and fortunately I believe he has the skillset to be very good at it.
5th round – cornerback Ryan Smith, North Carolina Central
You just know that Keim will love this guy, being from a small school, having bigtime potential, having a chip on his shoulder, and apparently showing a huge desire to be great via his work ethic and overall behavior.
I have never seen him play a game so I honestly have no idea how good he is. From what I have read, though, he is a physical and intelligent player who has dominated opponents at the lower level. On top of that he has actually set a new school record for career solo tackles, which I have never seen a cornerback do before although he actually did play safety for some years at the school. That flexibility should obvious benefit him as well. To me, the most important thing about Smith might be that he is a dangerous kick returner. I think that the Cardinals has to upgrade more or less everything about their special teams, and since David Johnson is needed on the offense, and Brittan Golden is a completely unknown to me in regards to special teams, I wanted to draft a guy who can play the role.
6th round – center, Marcus Henry, Boise State
I would have very much liked to select a center way before this spot, and I did target one in both the third and fourth round. In the end, though, it simply did not happen, and I was certainly not going to reach just to select a player at a specific position. I highly believe that will let you to draft Levi Brown, Cody Brown or even Jorrick Colvin (I do believe “needs” should be factored in to who is the “best player available”, but that is an entire different talk), and also, one could just look at how great players is drafted in round five, six and seven every year.
That wrote, I am happy that I got to pick Henry, and if I had known before that it is now a very real possibility that they will bring back Jerraud Powers, I would probably have selected Henry in the fifth round and hoped that Ryan Smith would be available in the sixth. I think that Henry it a good fit in Harold Goodwin’s unit and systems. He can definitely learn a lot technique-wise but he’s likely strong enough as it is, and to me it looks like he simply “gets it”. He understands combo-blocks, he is good at reading blitzes, and he is very aware of things around him. Also, people at Boise State seems to always talk about his football-IQ when describing him.
It might be a stretch to assume that a sixth round-choice can walk directly into the starting line-up, but none the less I would not bet against Henry doing it. I really like him.
So, that’s it.
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1. defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss
3. quarterback Dak Prescott, Mississippi State
4. cornerback Eric Murray, Minnesota
5. inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, West Virginia
5. cornerback Ryan Smith, North Carolina Central
6. center Marcus Henry, Boise State
I am satisfied with this draft. I believe it got the Cardinals a potential superstar at the defensive line, a future franchise quarterback and four players that could end up starting the first game of the season or in the future, or they might be really skilled special teams-players. I had planned to draft a center much earlier than I did but before the game started anyone could have predicted that it would not go down as I had imagined. I guess you could say that – in retrospect - I had my shot at a center in the first round, and when I decided not to draft one with that pick the writing was sort of on the wall that I wouldn’t get one before one of my last picks.
I always intended to spend the most picks on defensive players. I believe that the offense was very good last season, and though they were really bad in the NFC-finale, I think they will bounce back. The defense on the other hand could be upgraded, at least in my opinion. I think the defensive line is talented yet underachieving, while I believe that some people talked up the linebacker-corps way more than they deserved. The defensive back-group were good but still they were not without holes, and now they have lost some guys. Also, for what it’s worth four of the players (Prescott, Murray, Kwiatkoski, Henry) were team captains.
With this draft, and maybe a veteran pickup or two in free agency, I believe both the defense and offense can get past Carolina and Seattle, and possibly stay on that mountaintop for years.
I thought I would pass along how it went, and offer you my thoughts on each pick. If you don’t want to read it, or don’t want to spend the time to scroll down far enough, here are the end result:
1st round – defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss
3rd round – quarterback Dak Prescott, Mississippi State
4th round – cornerback Eric Murray, Minnesota
5th round – inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, West Virginia
5th round – cornerback Ryan Smith, North Carolina Central
6th round – center Marcus Henry, Boise State
Here is the entire draft: http://americanfootball.freeforums.org/gm-mock-ii-2016-drafttraden-t594.html
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1st round – defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss
I realize it is a controversial selection but please let me try to explain it.
First of all, I simply think that Nkemdiche is a fantastic talent. I think all the negativity about his play at Ole Miss is highly exaggerated, and I believe that anyone who are criticizing his production should look at his tape once again. Nkemdiche was facing double- and triple-teams on nearly every single play and he was still disruptive and effected the offensive game-plan more often than not. On the few occasion where he did not receive extra attention from the offensive line, he dominated to a degree that I have not seen in the NCAA since Ndamukong Suh was a senior at Nebraska. Yeah, he probably took some plays off but certainly not more than basically every stud player does.
Now, obviously he is a very risky selection because of his off the field stuff, and I am very aware that he might never be the difference maker that I envision. Having said that, I’m not so sure that he actually is a bad guy. I mean, he might be the perfect guy to make smokescreens about, since you can say basically anything and it will to at least some degree sounds plausible. A lot of people have major interests in Nkemdiche sliding from the top five, where his talent suggest he should be drafted, down to the later stage of round one. As far as I know, he has never tested positive for any drugs, he has never been charged with DUI, he has never been accused of accepting benefits from supporters of the Ole Miss University. Yes, he is way too often in the media for the wrong reason, but it seems to me that no-one can prove that he has done anything wrong.
By the way, I know about the picture of him using some drug-tool, and I know about him jumping from a hotel balcony, but to me those are just stupid things that kids do. No, he shouldn’t have done those things but it happened and no-one got hurt.
As it relates to the Cardinals, I would not be that worried if they did select Nkemdiche. They obviously have a very strong locker-room with leaders across the board, and not at least in the defensive line-group where guys such as Cory Redding, Corey Peters, Calais Campbell, Red Bryant and Frostee Rucker are most definitely up to the task of learning any rookie how to be a professional. On top of that they have Bruce Arians and Brentson Buckner who certainly won’t let a rookie – much less a first round choice – give anything less than his best. Oh, and Arizona is a long way from Mississippi so Nkemdiche won’t be around the same people that might have been a distraction to him.
On the field I think that Nkemdiche could be a monster on the defensive line. I believe that he could be a defensive end in their base-defense and then move to defensive tackle in the nickel-defense. I could even see him play some nose guard and outside linebacker at times. He is that good.
Like I wrote earlier, I realize that this pick might never pan out, but to me it’s definitely worth taking a shot to maybe get a difference maker that could be the difference of losing the NFC-finale to the Panthers or going all the way and win the Super Bowl. In fact, in the real draft I believe it could easily be necessary to trade up in front of the Seahawks if Keim and Arians want Nkemdiche. My reasoning being that the Seahawks seemingly don’t care at all about their offensive line – the last couple of years they have departed with their stud center Max Unger, their great offensive tackle Russell Okung and their starting offensive guards J.R. Sweezy and James Carpenter, and they have replaced them with nobodies, including signing Bradley Sowell this offseason. Furthermore, neither do they seem to care if their first pick-rookies have any kind of character concern – in three of the last four drafts they have used their first selection on players with major problems outside the field, including two (Bruce Irvin and Frank Clark) whose character flaws make Nkemdiche look like a choirboy. Well, and they kind of need him after they lost Brandon Mebane in free agency.
Robert Nkemdiche might be the biggest boom-or-bust player in the entire draft (maybe other than Jaylon Smith), and I think it says a great deal about the state of the Cardinals that I would be ecstatic if they did use their first round-selection to acquire him. To me, it would be the draft-definition of “no risk it, no biscuit”.
3rd round – quarterback Dak Prescott, Mississippi State
Truth be told, it scared me to see Palmer’s meltdown in the championship game. Not so much because of the game itself – those things happen – but because it reminded me all too well of the times with Kevin Kolb, Ryan Lindley, John Skelton and the rest of all the bad quarterbacks who started for the Cardinals not that long ago. To me, the game served as sort of a wakeup call that we should be thrilled to have Palmer leading the way (regular season Palmer, that is), and how important it is to have his successor ready when he decides to retire. I believe that Matt Barkley could eventually be that guy, but that might be a longshot and I would definitely not put all my eggs in that basket.
I actually think Prescott’s value as a draft prospect is probably in the fourth round. I just really want him on my team, and I think that when you get that feeling toward a quarterback, you should not “play the draftgame” too much and risk losing out on the player. As a matter of fact, I did get an offer to trade back but if I took it I would pick nearly an entire round later, which I didn’t want. I can easily see that Prescott need a lot of work to play in the NFL, but I think it is truly remarkable and shows a lot of promise that he’s level of play now is lightyears ahead of what is was two years ago. He has improved so much that I believe it is worth using the resources on Prescott to see if he can become the franchise quarterback some years from now, and oh yeah, Bruce Arians and Tom Moore are not exactly the worst quarterback-coaches out there.
I ranked Prescott higher recently because of the things I just wrote, but now I have dropped him about two rounds because of the DUI. Drunk driving in itself is idiotic but when a draft prospect, let alone a quarterback, does it very close to the draft, well, I don’t have words for how stupid that is. I guess, though, that this time you can relate it to him being young and naïve, and that he is under heavy pressure. He better not do something like that as a professional.
4th round – cornerback Eric Murray, Minnesota
With the pick I was actually focused on drafting center Evan Boehm out of Missouri. He was on the board very close to my selection, and I just really like him. He might not be the greatest athlete in the world but he is as tough as they come, and I think he started at their offensive line as a freshman. On top of that, I believe he has been a team captain for years, and that he was one of the leaders and spokespersons in the media-turmoil first with the brave announcement from Michael Sam, and then last year during the huge racism-scandal. Anyway, unfortunately Boehm was picked just one spot ahead of me.
The primary reason that I wanted to pick a center with this selection was that I had four or five defensive backs rated about equally, so I thought that at least one of them would be available with my next pick. That plan was quickly changed, though. When Boehm was picked I try to move back a few spots but I guess that primarily due to the format of the game (people were simply not home by their computers) it was not possible.
I think that Eric Murray is the Cardinals-type of a defensive back. He is a very psychical cornerback who excels in press man coverage. He might not be the fastest, strongest, quickest or the one that jump highest but he does all of those things rather well, and though he’s not a ballhawk and probably won’t ever be a huge playmaker, he’s simply reliable and solid. While his physicality is his biggest strength, it might also become his biggest weakness since he could get a lot of penalties if he doesn’t learn to use his playing style correctly.
I believe that Murray would be in the rotation from day one, and that he could possibly turn into a really good #2 cornerback opposite Patrick Peterson, but if not, several scouts apparently believe he can be a safety in the NFL.
5th round – inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, West Virginia
Well, let my just start by writing that I am not a big fan of Kevin Minter, and even though he will probably play a lot this season, his contract is up afterwards. Personally, I wouldn’t re-sign him.
Kwiatkoski is a former safety turned linebacker, and it really shows in his athleticism as he can drop back in coverage and run sideline-to-sideline with ease. He was a starter for three years at West Virginia, and each season he was moved to a new one of their three linebacker-position - but still he lead the team in tackles every year. He does have some physical limitations (mainly, he might not be powerful enough) that could be too much to overcome, but I do think he has a chance to stick around.
I have already stated that I think Minter could be upgraded, but I also think it could be interesting to move Bucannon back to safety since it is his natural position. Obviously, none of us know if he can do it but there is clearly a place for him with Rashad Johnson and potentially Powers leaving. I know that some inside journalists have made it out to be a fact that Arians wants to keep Bucannon at linebacker, but have you seen the interview where he talks about that very subject? He specifically says that “right now” they will leave Bucannon at linebacker, and that he will “probably” play there this season. Not only is that nowhere near a definitive statement but this is also the season for smokescreens and lies. Remember how Arians said they certainly would not draft a quarterback the day before they selected Logan Thomas?
I like Kwiatkoski but most likely he would need to make the team through playing special teams, and fortunately I believe he has the skillset to be very good at it.
5th round – cornerback Ryan Smith, North Carolina Central
You just know that Keim will love this guy, being from a small school, having bigtime potential, having a chip on his shoulder, and apparently showing a huge desire to be great via his work ethic and overall behavior.
I have never seen him play a game so I honestly have no idea how good he is. From what I have read, though, he is a physical and intelligent player who has dominated opponents at the lower level. On top of that he has actually set a new school record for career solo tackles, which I have never seen a cornerback do before although he actually did play safety for some years at the school. That flexibility should obvious benefit him as well. To me, the most important thing about Smith might be that he is a dangerous kick returner. I think that the Cardinals has to upgrade more or less everything about their special teams, and since David Johnson is needed on the offense, and Brittan Golden is a completely unknown to me in regards to special teams, I wanted to draft a guy who can play the role.
6th round – center, Marcus Henry, Boise State
I would have very much liked to select a center way before this spot, and I did target one in both the third and fourth round. In the end, though, it simply did not happen, and I was certainly not going to reach just to select a player at a specific position. I highly believe that will let you to draft Levi Brown, Cody Brown or even Jorrick Colvin (I do believe “needs” should be factored in to who is the “best player available”, but that is an entire different talk), and also, one could just look at how great players is drafted in round five, six and seven every year.
That wrote, I am happy that I got to pick Henry, and if I had known before that it is now a very real possibility that they will bring back Jerraud Powers, I would probably have selected Henry in the fifth round and hoped that Ryan Smith would be available in the sixth. I think that Henry it a good fit in Harold Goodwin’s unit and systems. He can definitely learn a lot technique-wise but he’s likely strong enough as it is, and to me it looks like he simply “gets it”. He understands combo-blocks, he is good at reading blitzes, and he is very aware of things around him. Also, people at Boise State seems to always talk about his football-IQ when describing him.
It might be a stretch to assume that a sixth round-choice can walk directly into the starting line-up, but none the less I would not bet against Henry doing it. I really like him.
So, that’s it.
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1. defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss
3. quarterback Dak Prescott, Mississippi State
4. cornerback Eric Murray, Minnesota
5. inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, West Virginia
5. cornerback Ryan Smith, North Carolina Central
6. center Marcus Henry, Boise State
I am satisfied with this draft. I believe it got the Cardinals a potential superstar at the defensive line, a future franchise quarterback and four players that could end up starting the first game of the season or in the future, or they might be really skilled special teams-players. I had planned to draft a center much earlier than I did but before the game started anyone could have predicted that it would not go down as I had imagined. I guess you could say that – in retrospect - I had my shot at a center in the first round, and when I decided not to draft one with that pick the writing was sort of on the wall that I wouldn’t get one before one of my last picks.
I always intended to spend the most picks on defensive players. I believe that the offense was very good last season, and though they were really bad in the NFC-finale, I think they will bounce back. The defense on the other hand could be upgraded, at least in my opinion. I think the defensive line is talented yet underachieving, while I believe that some people talked up the linebacker-corps way more than they deserved. The defensive back-group were good but still they were not without holes, and now they have lost some guys. Also, for what it’s worth four of the players (Prescott, Murray, Kwiatkoski, Henry) were team captains.
With this draft, and maybe a veteran pickup or two in free agency, I believe both the defense and offense can get past Carolina and Seattle, and possibly stay on that mountaintop for years.