Cardinals had a solid draft

It’s hard not to like what the Cardinals did in the NFL
draft.

Michael Floyd was a need and a necessity as the Cardinals
have struggled with finding a #2 receiver ever since they
decided not to pay Anquan Boldin the money he wanted and
shipped him to Baltimore.

Steve Breaston and Early Doucet both failed to produce the
way a second receiver should, and while you may think that
some of that is on the quarterback, all you need to do is
look at Larry Fitzgerald’s production to realize that good
receivers find ways to make plays. So getting a solid
physical receiver in Floyd was crucial for the Cardinals
offense.

Not having a second-round pick hurt initially, especially
when you saw the run on offensive tackles in that round,
but one tackle expected to go in that round fell to the
Cardinals in the fourth round and that was Bobby Massie of
Mississippi.

It’s hard not to love this pick, as Massie could start at
right tackle immediately. Massie was highly productive in
a conference that is dominated by pass rushers and
defensive line play — the SEC. I was actually hoping they
were going to draft him in the third round.

I also like third-round pick Jamell Fleming of
Oklahoma, especially when you figure he went up against
great receivers in the Big 12 and practiced against
wideout Ryan Broyles — who went to the Detroit Lions in
the second round — on a regular basis. Some of you may
remember Fleming returing a pick for an interception in
the Fiesta Bowl vs UConn last year. Arizona may have found
the compliment to Patrick Peterson at the other cornerback
spot, or at least someone to push Greg Toler, who missed
all of last season due to injury.

I wasn’t in favor of getting a guard early,
especially with all the talk of David DeCastro of Stanford
in the first round because Arizona spent free agent money
on Darryn Colledge and Adam Snyder in the past two years.
But nabbing depth with Senio Kelemente of Washington in
the 5th round was a nice get. Kelemente is versatile like
Snyder because he can play guard and tackle.

I’m not the only one to not know much about 6th round
pick Justin Bethel out of Presbyterian, but all you need
to do is look at the YouTube video of him box
jumping 60 inches and you can tell the kid is a freak
athlete that may be worth developing as a safety. Nothing
wrong with grabbing San Diego State quarterback Ryan
Lindley with their second sixth round pick, as he had a
lot of success in the Mountain West Conference and heck,
someone needs to hold the clipboard. Boise State tackle
Nate Potter in the seventh round just adds more depth and
competition on the offensive line, and we all know that is
just what they needed.

So in a nutshell three offensive lineman were drafted,
as well as a dominant wide receiver, two secondary players
and a quarterback. To win in this league you need to build
through the draft and on paper this looks like a solid
draft.

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