It is mock draft season and we know it because ESPN’s Mel Kiper has dropped his first mock draft of the year. While the whole first round’s order has not yet been completely determined, as four teams remain in the playoffs, the first 28 have been and that didn’t impact the Arizona Cardinals, as they finished the season locked into the 16th pick.
In these projections, he wants to get the Cardinals a pass rusher, but his board made that seem like a reach. So he has them filling what might be their second-biggest need at guard. He has them selecting Alabama guard Tyler Booker.
I’d love for Arizona to land a pass rusher here after it finished 26th in pressure rate (28.6%), but the board isn’t cooperating. It’d be a reach to Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr., Marshall’s Mike Green or Texas A&M’s Nic Scourton. General manager Monti Ossenfort is known to trade around in the first round, so maybe he’ll get an offer for the No. 16 pick — someone interested in Ashton Jeanty? — and be able to move back, get an edge rusher and add more picks. But if the Cardinals stay home and things play out like this, I’m eyeing another position.
Arizona might not return guards Will Hernandez or Evan Brown (both free agents), and it has to keep the interior offensive line strong for its run game. Booker might be the best pure guard in the class. He’s strong at the point of attack, and no one gets past him. And he’s rugged in the run game, getting to the second level to clear lanes.
Booker is big and strong. With Hernandez and Brown scheduled to be free agents as well as reserve Trystan Colon, 2024 third-round pick Isaiah Adams is the one guy returning who played. He wasn’t awful but also didn’t prove himself to be great yet.
A pass rusher would be ideal, but if there are better linemen, whether tackles or guards, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go that route, whether it means having that rookie tackle play guard to start his career.
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