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Arizona Cardinals: 2016 NFL Draft Targets

By Brendan Kennealy

Jan 25, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; David Plaza and son Noah Plaza (left) pose with No. 1 St. Louis Rams jersey and Heather Plaza and son Jonah Plaza pose with No. 1 Arizona Cardinals jersey at the NFL Draft exhibit at the NFL Experience at Phoenix Convention Center in advance of Super Bowl XLIX between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 25, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; David Plaza and son Noah Plaza (left) pose with No. 1 St. Louis Rams jersey and Heather Plaza and son Jonah Plaza pose with No. 1 Arizona Cardinals jersey at the NFL Draft exhibit at the NFL Experience at Phoenix Convention Center in advance of Super Bowl XLIX between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Arizona Cardinals will make their first selection in the 2016 NFL Draft with the 29th overall pick, what should they do with this pick along with their other five draft picks in next week’s draft?

The Arizona Cardinals are coming off of one of their best seasons in franchise history in which they marched their way to the NFC Championship game before losing to Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.

The Cardinals roster has a great core of young talent mixed with aging, yet productive veterans. The Cardinals must look to reload some of these positions of aging veterans through the 2016 NFL Draft next week.

The first position that comes to mind is that of quarterback. Carson Palmer will be 36-years-old this year and the Cardinals still lack a serviceable backup. Drew Stanton hasn’t been the answer and Logan Thomas has yet to produce at a level that would warrant the Cardinals to trust him as their future franchise quarterback.

There will be little value in any of the quarterbacks available at 29th overall, unless Paxton Lynch from Memphis (3rd QB according to CBS Sports) somehow slips to the Cardinals. The Rams, Browns, Jets, and 49ers are the key teams looking to add a quarterback and will all make their selections in the first round before the Cardinals. If the Cardinals are able to trade out of the first round and down to the second round they could look at adding the talents of Connor Cook (Michigan State).

If the Cardinals are to keep the first round draft pick, the Cardinals should look at the following players to help bolster their defense:

  • William Jackson (CB), Houston
  • Jeremy Cash (S), Duke
  • Xavien Howard (CB), Baylor
  • T.J. Green (FS), Clemson

Out of the four secondary players, Green is my favorite of the bunch. Green is 6’2″, 209 pounds and runs a 4.34 40-yard dash. He plays a lot like Eric Berry of the Kansas City Chiefs in which he is able to help out on run plays as well as play stellar man coverage. He’s extremely fast (as you can tell by his 40-yard dash time), but only started one season at Clemson so his lack of experience could be discerning.

Here are the Arizona Cardinals 2016 NFL Draft picks:

R1 P29, R3 P 92, R4 P128, R5 P167, R5 P170, R6 P205

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The NFL Draft will kick-off on April 28 and will go through April 30 in Chicago.

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