Cardinals land TE, S and QB in McShay’s three-round mock

Of all the people who have an idea of what teams might do in the upcoming NFL Draft, ESPN’s Todd McShay probably ranks among those whose opinion might actually carry some weight.

He is, after all, one of the network’s lead draft analysts, and has spent more time than most breaking down prospects who could hear their name called over the three-day event in Philadelphia.

Therefore, McShay’s three-round mock draft for every team, which he put together for ESPN Insider, is well worth a read. His goal was to make the best pick for each team at each draft slot, regardless of whether he liked the player for a different team more.

McShay noted he was not trying to predict the picks so much as say who he would draft if he was each team, and for the Cardinals, that meant a tight end went in the first round.

The analyst chose Miami’s David Njoku at No. 13 overall for the Cardinals, and then followed that pick with Michigan safety Jabrill Peppers in the second round and Pittsburgh QB Nathan Peterman in the third.

With TEs Jermaine Gresham and Troy Niklas still in town, Njoku wouldn’t have to be an every-down player from Day 1 in Arizona, but he’d give Carson Palmer another dimension in the passing game because of his freakish skill set. The Cardinals have shown the ability to develop versatile defensive backs (Tyrann Mathieu and Deone Bucannon), and Peppers would be another intriguing project for them. He has limitations, but I love his competitiveness. With Palmer now 37 and no QB of the future on the roster, Arizona needs to draft a QB with some developmental upside in this year’s draft. I snagged Peterman in Round 3, but the Cardinals could take one with an earlier pick if the board falls right.

It’s safe to say the Cardinals going with a tight end in the first round would be a surprise. However, the 6-foot-4, 246-pound Njoku is seen as an incredible prospect, with his NFL.com draft profile likening him to Greg Olsen. He caught 43 passes for 698 yards and eight touchdowns last season, and is regarded as a competitive blocker.

But as McShay even noted, the Cardinals do not necessarily have a need for a tight end going into the 2017 season.

The same cannot really be said for the other two positions he has the team addressing, with safety and quarterback both having holes, if not definite needs.

Peppers is one of the more exciting players in the draft, having played a variety of roles for Michigan during his career in Ann Arbor. As a linebacker last season, he recorded 72 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, four sacks and one interception. He was the Big 10’s Linebacker of the Year and a first-team member, but at 5-foot-11 and 213 pounds is seen as a safety in the NFL.

As for Peterman, while not necessarily the most notable passer in the draft, he would make some sense. At 6-foot-2 and 226 pounds he has decent size, while he also displays adequate mobility. He threw for 2,855 yards and 27 touchdowns last season, but does not come with the track record of some of the draft’s top QB prospects.

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