Needs on O-line won’t dictate Cardinals’ draft

Just because the Arizona Cardinals may need an offensive
lineman does not mean they will draft one with their first
round pick next Thursday.

No, instead the Cardinals, according to head coach Ken
Whisenhunt, will look for the best player — period.

“What we don’t want to do is draft a lineman just to draft
a lineman because that’s what you think you have to do,”
Whisenhunt said at the team’s Tempe training facility
Thursday. “You’ve got to trust your process and pick the
best player available that fits your team.”

So that means trusting a scouting process that goes on for
months prior to a selection actually being made. While
drafting is far from a science, Whisenhunt believes that’s
the safest way to avoid landing a “bust” with a pick.

Let’s face it, not every player is going to pan out the
way you want him to pan out, and there’s going to be
differences of opinions as to how certain players do and
how certain players don’t perform the way they want to,”
Whisenhunt added. “I think that you have to continue to
try to trust your process and what you believe in and
getting the right players at the right time.

“And it’s got to be the right kind of players.”

Whisenhunt pointed to players like Calais Campbell and
Larry Fitzgerald as guys who are not only good on the
field, but quality people off it. And that, he said, is
important, especially when times are tough.

“When times are tough, when things aren’t going right,
those guys have got to pull together for you, and that’s
what we saw a little bit of last year with our team
winning seven our last nine,” he said.

Follow @theAdamGreen