Arizona Cardinals seven-round 2020 NFL mock draft

Not a very imaginative draft pick, I know.

Multiple Mock drafts across the internet have the Arizona Cardinals taking Iowa right tackle Tristan Wirfs. I approached this various times hoping to find a reason for the Cardinals to draft someone different. The only scenario where the Arizona Cardinals do not draft Wirfs is if Georgia’s Andrew Thomas is still available. Which is incredibly unlikely.

Some players are just destined for a team. Like how Chase Young is destined to be drafted by whichever team drafts second in the 2020 NFL draft. There is no escaping fate. Tristan Wirfs will be the right tackle for the Arizona Cardinals.

If fate is having an elite right tackle for years to come, the Arizona Cardinals should be ecstatic. Let’s be frank about something for a moment. The Arizona Cardinals offensive line has been bad for a long time. I could share with you a bunch of statistics and numbers to prove it, like how the offensive line was ranked in the bottom ten teams in Pass Protection for the last three seasons (Football Outsiders).

I could share with you anecdotes like how the team has allowed their quarterbacks to be sacked no less than 40 times in each of the last four seasons (NFL.com). But instead of that, I ask you, dear reader, to watch this video, as it is symbolic of the entire 2019 Arizona Cardinals season.

In 2019, Arizona Cardinals GM Steve Keim decided to trade a sixth-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers to grab right tackle Marcus Gilbert. Gilbert has spent the entire season on Injured Reserve, after playing only five games the previous season before a knee injury.

Keim also signed Free Agent Guards J.R. Sweezy and Max Garcia to help bolster the interior offensive line. They have underperformed. They trusted the left tackle position to D.J. Humphries, who until this season had never completed a full 16 games starting since being drafted in 2015.

I refuse to sugarcoat the problem. History has shown that Steve Keim undervalues the offensive line. Despite having one of the worst offensive lines of 2018, even with quarterback Josh Rosen’s rookie season being defined by bad blocking, Keim entered the 2019 NFL Draft and did not draft an offensive lineman until the sixth round.

This year, the story of Andrew Luck retiring before he turned 30 rocked the NFL. His career has become a cautionary tale of what happens to a quarterback without adequate protection. Let us hope Keim learns this lesson before the Life and Times of Kyler Murray does not also become a cautionary tale as well.

The Air Raid offense that Kingsbury is attempting to run in Arizona requires quick, athletic offensive linemen to protect their quarterbacks. Watching tape of Murray’s first season with the Arizona Cardinals shows opposing defenses taking advantage of the team’s weak offensive line. Over and over again teams used extra pass rushers to make Murray exit the pocket and hesitant to run.

Tristan Wirfs is the most talented right tackle in the 2020 NFL Draft. Wirfs is the prototype of what teams want at the right tackle position. For years the league emphasized the left tackle position much more than the right.

But as defenses started to adjust to this situation, the right tackle position has gained more prominence in recent years. At 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds, Wirfs rounds out nicely at the position, his stature ideal for the Right Tackle position, with very little bad weight. The Iowa junior gave up just two quarterback hits in 2019 (24/7 Sports).

Watching videos of Iowa’s 2019 campaign showed an offensive tackle who consistently controlled the defensive player he was assigned to block. Whenever he pushed forward, defensive linemen ceded ground. On screens, he moved defensive ends away from the action and on outside pass-rush, Wirfs held his own against most pass rushers. Considering this guy is only 20 years old, there is no telling how talented he could become with more seasons under his belt.

At the sixth spot in the first round, there will be plenty of skill position players left on the board to tempt the Arizona Cardinals. Steve Keim will eventually have to start thinking about a life without Larry Fitzgerald, the legendary wide receiver that has offered a glimmer of hope through the team’s trials and tribulations.

But the Arizona Cardinals and the Air Raid offense will never get off the ground if they continue to under-value the offensive line. Specifically the left and right tackle. The Air Raid offense is predicated on having big, athletic offensive tackles to keep the quarterback clean in the pocket and make lanes for rushing quarterbacks.

The Baltimore Ravens this year have shown that the running quarterback is an offensive scheme that can work outside of college. Murray showed in Oklahoma how dangerous he can be when given the chance to take off downfield. Keim’s dreams of Murray throwing all over the field and scurrying into the end zone on broken coverages will never become reality if the offensive line is sub-par.

Not many elite right tackles ever reach free agency. Most organizations understand the value of a top-shelf tackle in today’s NFL. For the Arizona Cardinals and Murray’s sake, let’s hope the general manager has learned that too.