Who did the Arizona Cardinals pick instead of the 2018 All Pros?

Let’s take a walk down memory lane on who the Arizona Cardinals picked over the 2018 All Pro’s.

Having the ability to look at things in a revised manner is always fun.

Let’s take, for instance the Mayock Mock Drafts we talked about yesterday, where the Cardinals picks versus new Oakland Raiders GM Mike Mayock’s picks were compared.

Clearly Mayock picked better, but that was mostly due to the fact that he was able to draft Aaron Barr who was not available to the Cardinals.

Now, because looking back is always fun, let’s take a look at the 2018 All Pro team and who the Cardinals took instead.

Here are some simple to follow rules:

1. The Cardinals had to have passed on the player in either day one or day two with no trade up options, they flatout passed, like Derwin James this year.
2. You cannot take a player, let’s say Travis Kelce, and make him a first round pick at 7 when he was taken in two rounds later.
3. We’ll say since 2010, so we don’t have to revisit six different staffs to get there.

2018 First Team All-Pro Team

Tight End - Travis Kelce, 2013 NFL Draft Rd3 Pick 63 - AZ Cardinals pick Rd 2 Pick 45, Kevin Minter

I feel like 18 picks may be stretching it, but it is within a round. The Cardinals thought they were getting a future quarterback for their defense, I did too. They ended up getting a fringe NFL starter who is now a journeyman.

Wide Receiver - Deandre Hopkins, 2013 NFL Draft Rd1 Pick 27 - AZ Cardinals pick Rd1 Pick 7, Jonathan Cooper
Michael Thomas, 2016 NFL Draft Rd2 Pick 47 - AZ Cardinals pick Rd1 Pick 29, Robert Nkemdiche

This is what makes these exercises tough, because clearly the Cardinals needed a guard and a defensive tackle infinitely more than wide receivers. It also goes to show the problem with going for “needs” over talent. Hopkins was probably the best player in the 2013 NFL Draft, but because he was “slow” at the combine, he had some questions to answer In fact, Thomas is probably similar, with his slower time, but they are both multi faceted and uber talented wide receivers.

J.J. Watt, 2011 NFL Draft Rd1 Pick 11 - AZ Cardinals pick Rd1 Pick 5, Patrick Peterson

Obviously they got this one right. While Watt is a complete difference maker as an edge and maybe the best defensive player of his generation, Peterson was maybe the #2 player overall coming out behind Von Miller. Nothing wrong with this pick.

Derwin James, 2018 NFL Draft Rd1 Pick 15 - AZ Cardinals pick Rd1 Pick 10, Josh Rosen

I’ve been told that James was the pick if the Cardinals couldn’t get Josh Allen or Josh Rosen. Take that for what you will. You’ll never blame a team for taking the quarterback, especially when the room was Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon coming into the year.

Brief aside and shoutout to former Arizona Cardinals draftee Andre Roberts, who was the All-Pro kick returner this year.

Obviously, the only two that really hurt are Kelce and Michael Thomas.

I will say this, the draft that hurt the Cardinals more than any other is 2012.

The Cardinals took Michael Floyd in 2012, with picks directly before Floyd being Luke Kuechly, Stephon Gilmore and Fletcher Cox. In total 10 players in the first two rounds of 2012 have been All Pros...

The Cardinals picked Floyd and traded their second for Kevin Kolb. Of course they did end up with Chandler Jones, so technically they ended up with one of those 10 players.

It is just interesting to look back and see how things unfold from draft day to years down the road and how close the Cardinals could have been to some of these players.

from Revenge of the Birds - All Posts http://bit.ly/2AtzbNK