Arizona Cardinals’ GM says draft board not yet settled
Apr 12, 2013, 3:50 AM | Updated: 4:34 pm
With the NFL draft approaching in two weeks, the Arizona Cardinals are working feverishly to settle their draft board.
Cardinals’ general manager Steve Keim told Arizona Sports 620’s Big Red Rage Show Thursday the team has had spirited conversations about this year’s crop of players.
“We rank them one through 120 on who we would take for the Arizona Cardinals,” Keim said. “So once we get to draft day and all the emotions are running, we’ve already had those tough conversations, we’ve already separated these players. So once we get to the seventh pick and six players are gone, it’s easy to know who we’re taking.”
But despite making great progress, Keim said the organization hasn’t come to a consensus on a pick.
“Not yet. We’ve actually gotten most of the way through the offensive part of our discussions,” Keim said.
Keim said those discussions have proven to be heated and opinionated at times, which he believes is a good sign.
“You want to see people fight for what they believe in,” Keim explained. “So if you had a camera in that war room while we’re talking about the players, it can get quite interesting. But at the end of the day when we put that card on the board, it’s a Cardinal grade.”
The Cardinals’ GM said the team remains steadfast on selecting the best available player and will look to draft accordingly.
But one area of the draft that appears particularly strong is the depth at the offensive line position, which is something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Keim and the Cardinals.
“We finished talking about most of the offensive lineman [Thursday],” Keim stated. “It is a good group, not only from top to bottom. I mean there are guys that are going to go in the first round and I think they’re going to have tremendous success. I think there are going to be guys you could find in rounds three through six that are going to be good, quality NFL starters.
“It happens every year. You just have to be willing to turn over every stone and to dig and we have a great scouting staff that does their due diligence and we feel very good about our process.”
