Combine tidbits: For Cardinals and others, it’s still about the D-line

As much as the attention has gravitated toward baseball-turned-football prospect Kyler Murray in preparation for the NFL Draft, the realistic view is that this 2019 class remains all about the defensive line.

Edge rushers Nick Bosa (Ohio State), Josh Allen (Kentucky), Clelin Ferrell (Clemson) and Rashan Gary (Michigan) are top-10 prospects on most big boards, and Bosa is widely regarded as the top prospect.

“To me, it’s all about big guys,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said at the NFL Draft Combine in Indianapolis, according to the Associated Press. “Premier talent and depth at the defensive line position, inside, outside, it’s outstanding. And it carries deep into the draft.”

For the Arizona Cardinals, that’s a good thing. They need an edge rusher opposite Chandler Jones as they revert back to a 3-4 defense led by defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, the former Broncos head coach.

“You’ve seen the defenses who’ve had that have really done some good things and made some deep runs. With Vance and his scheme, what he did in Denver with those two guys (Von Miller and Bradley Chubb), we’d obviously like to replicate that if we can,” Kingsbury said at the combine Wednesday.

The Cardinals could look toward the draft to find their second pass-rusher, but they could also bring back free agent Markus Golden. General manager Steve Keim suggested there are a few free agents Arizona would like to re-sign after the draft.

“There are a number of guys, somewhere in the three-to-four range, that are guys who are unrestricted free agents that we certainly had conversations about coming back,” he said Wednesday.

Arizona, like the other teams near the top of the draft, could also have their pick of interior linemen. Tackles Quinnen Williams (Alabama), Jeffery Simmons (Mississippi State), Christian Wilkins (Clemson) and Dexter Lawrence (Clemson) are also viewed as top-20 picks.

“I think we’re getting to the point in this league where we’ve become such a pass-first league that you take those guys wherever you can get them,” said Mike Mayock, who parlayed a 14-year run as the NFL Network’s draft guru into the Oakland Raiders’ general manager’s job.

Mayock said he’s spoken to just about every top quarterback in the NFL since 2004 and he’s asked them all the same question: What bothers you the most?

“And almost every top-flight quarterback says, ‘immediate pressure up the middle,'” Mayock said.

“It disturbs sight lines, forces you to readjust your feet. So, I think we’re at the point now where people are throwing the ball so much that you’ve got to find a way to affect it regardless.”

The Raiders own the fourth, 24th and 27th picks in the first round, and after dealing Khalil Mack last offseason could be in the market for a top pass-rusher. Mayock called Derek Carr Oakland’s franchise quarterback on Thursday, but his team remains an obvious potential trade partner if Arizona hopes to move down.

“I think it’s really difficult to improve over a franchise quarterback like the one we have in our building right now,” Mayock said.

If they get enamored with Bosa or another top rusher, Arizona might be able to benefit.

Keim said it was too early to know how comfortable he will be about trading down from No. 1.

He must build a big board of 120 players closer to the draft and find “the threshold where the five-star, blue-chip players really end. To me, that’ll give me a better understanding if we are comfortable moving back or if we want to stay with the pick.”

So if Murray’s likelihood of going No. 1 is more of a media-built hype machine than realistic, does that hurt the Cardinals’ options when it comes to marketing a trade at No. 1?

“I don’t think so because I think there are a number of positions — whether it’s left tackle, whether it’s pass-rusher, whether it’s corner — that are impossible to find at a certain spot in the draft,” Keim said. “Or supply and demand that year in terms of depth at that position. And then free agency, how do you get those guys?

“Very rarely does a pass-rusher get to free agency. Very rarely does a left tackle get to free agency. And if they do, those numbers as astronomical.”

Big receiver talent aplenty

Kingsbury and Keim fielded questions Wednesday about the receiver talent in the draft. Arizona’s need for adding a bigger outside receiver could come into play with the No. 33 overall pick, each suggested.

“There’s a number of guys who have tremendous size, which we’re really looking for as an outside receiver. Something that a lot of people don’t talk about: guys who can still block,” Keim said.

Kingsbury brought up playing against Ole Miss while he was head coach at Texas Tech when it came to specific receivers.

D.K. Metcalf, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound receiver, teamed with 6-foot-1, 230-pound A.J. Brown. Both are considered potential first-round picks.

The 6-foot-2, 204-pounder DaMarkus Lodge, another Ole Miss product, is also considered an NFL talent.

Georgia’s Riley Ridley (6-foot-2), North Carolina State’s Kelvin Harmon (6-foot-3) and Arizona State’ N’Keal Harry (6-foot-4) are likewise options in the early second round or even the first round.

Yes, the Cardinals will use their tight end

Running the Air Raid offense in college often is misrepresented as refusal to play a tight end.

That’s not necessarily the case.

“Part of it was is we just couldn’t find ’em — a tight end, a true tight end,” said Mike Leach, the father of the Air Raid system who joined Doug & Wolf in January. “A lot of people are real stubborn about, they have to have a true tight end. The trouble is God only made a few true tight ends and most of them are playing defensive line.”

Kingsbury, Leach’s disciple, feels the same way. He often used 10 personnel (four wide receivers) but only did so when he didn’t have a talented tight end.

In 2013, tight end Jace Amaro amassed 1,352 receiving yards playing at Texas Tech.

The new Cardinals coach noted that when expressing his excitement to deploy recently-signed tight end Charles Clay.

“I’ve always been enamored with the different ways he can be used, whether it’s in the backfield blocking or you can hand him the football or he can be a matchup at wide receiver,” Kingsbury said. “He can just do a lot of different things.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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