Cardinals ask about Nick Bosa, get into draft prep mode at Senior Bowl

Potential first overall NFL Draft pick Nick Bosa isn’t at the Senior Bowl. He played just three games of his junior season before calling it an Ohio State career, but the Arizona Cardinals are using their week in Mobile, Ala., to examine him anyway.

To do so, they asked outgoing Ohio State wide receiver Terry McLaurin if they should take Bosa, who left the Buckeyes prematurely in order to recover from core muscle surgery.

“And they asked, ‘Would you take Nick Bosa?’ And I said, ‘Yes, for the No. 1 overall pick,'” McLaurin told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco.

Bosa recorded 14 tackles, 6.0 for loss, and 4.0 sacks with a fumble recovery for a touchdown before he elected to have surgery in mid-September. A month later, he left Ohio State to focus on the draft process.

“To be honest, I understood,” McLaurin said Wednesday, according to Maiocco. “He has a life-changing opportunity. And while we missed him and we wish we could’ve had him, we understood. People couldn’t appreciate how serious his injury was.

“Even if he would’ve been able to come back, it may not have been until the Big Ten championship game. And he wouldn’t have been 100-percent healthy.”

McLaurin, who was Ohio State’s captain for two years, also called Bosa a “high competitor” and said Buckeye coaches had to reel him in because of how hard he played.

Perhaps the Cardinals gleaned something about McLaurin himself in their meeting. A projected mid- to late-round pick, the 6-foot-1 receiver pulled in 35 receptions for 701 yards and 11 touchdowns last season for the Buckeyes.

According to Walter Football’s Charlie Campbell and DraftWire.com’s Gavino Borquez, Arizona also met with five players on the field after Tuesday’s Senior Bowl practice, all of whom were defensive players:

Iowa DE Anthony Nelson

Texas CB Kris Boyd

Washburn CB Corey Ballentine

Mississippi State LB Gerri Green

Stanford LB Bobby Okereke

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