The Arizona Cardinals have dealt with a talent exodus since making their first playoff appearance in six years. As a result, the Cardinals are left with some very real team needs they must address in the NFL Draft if they want to make another run at the NFC West.
Arizona Cardinals team needs in the 2022 NFL Draft
The Cardinals will have to be creative in filling those needs. They have eight picks in the NFL Draft but just three in the top 200. They surrendered their fourth-rounder to move up to take cornerback Marco Wilson in 2021. Meanwhile, their fifth-round pick belongs to the Eagles, courtesy of the Zach Ertz trade.
EDGE
No team has shed more pass-rush talent over the last 14 months than Arizona. In 2020, the Cardinals had a roster that featured Chandler Jones and Haason Reddick. Now, Jones is in Vegas, and Reddick is an Eagle.
Those are two double-digit sack defenders lost in free agency. And the Cardinals didn’t have the cash to replace them in an impressive EDGE free agency class. Their big signing? Nick Vigil, who has 5 sacks in his career.
The Cardinals, by their actions, are projecting confidence in Markus Golden, who led the team with 11 sacks in 2021. J.J. Watt is back for a 12th NFL season, but how smart is it to rely on a player who’s missed 41 games since 2016?
Cornerback
A quick check of the roster should scare any Cardinals fans worried about stopping Matthew Stafford in 2022. As of early April, the Cardinals had just six corners on their depth chart: Byron Murphy, Marco Wilson, Breon Borders, Nate Brooks, Jeff Gladney, and Jace Whittaker.
Murphy is an excellent building block. He led the team with 4 interceptions and 12 passes defensed last year. Beyond that, there are some questions. Wilson allowed 70.3% of passes thrown in his direction to be completed in 2021.
Offensive Tackle
Theoretically, the Cardinals could get by with either waiting until Day 3 to draft a tackle or finding a backup in late-stage free agency. But that wouldn’t be showing a ton of foresight.
Yes, D.J. Humphries and Kelvin Beachum are both back after starting a combined 31 games in 2021. But Beachum isn’t a strength and might be a liability. His salary (one year, $1.9 million) is the market telling us he’s a backup, and the Cardinals should listen. And even if they take a project in Round 3, they can still start Beachum and develop the young prospect.
Defensive Tackle
The Cardinals’ official roster lists just two defensive tackles: Leki Fotu and Rashard Lawrence. That’s less than ideal.
Granted, there’s position flexibility with Watt, Zach Allen, and Jonathan Ledbetter, but Arizona needs some heft in the middle after parting ways with Jordan Phillips last month. Fotu and Lawrence are the only two current Cardinals defensive players who weigh over 300 pounds.
Wide Receiver
The Cardinals absolutely were right to let Christian Kirk walk after the Jaguars decided to pay him like a Hall of Famer. Kirk is a fine player, but let’s be real: He’s never had 1,000 yards or even 7 touchdowns in any season.
Nevertheless, Kirk’s cash-in does create some logistical roster issues. The seven wideouts currently under contract — DeAndre Hopkins, A.J. Green, Rondale Moore, Andy Isabella, Greg Dortch, Antoine Wesley, and Andre Baccellia — had a combined 2,091 receiving yards in 2021.
That number was skewed because Hopkins missed seven games due to injury. But it is also a cause for concern.
