Arizona Cardinals 7-round 2020 NFL mock draft: Building a strong offense

Continuing the Arizona Cardinals rebuild with a complete seven-round 2020 NFL mock draft.

Last offseason, the Arizona Cardinals turned their franchise upside down when they went all-in on head coach Kliff Kingsbury and his wide-open offensive attack and supremely talented dual-threat signal-caller Kyler Murray. As a rookie, Kingsbury and Murray led the Cardinals to a 5-10-1 record. That may not seem like much, but it is an improvement over their 3-13 2018 season.

If nothing else, the Cardinals at least have a clear direction and an incredibly gifted quarterback to build around. They have to use this offseason to continue to build a strong offense around Murray. The defense does need attention, but if the Cardinals are going to see significant improvement in the near future, it is going to be on the back of Murray. Nothing is more important than building a strong offense around him and that starts with the 2020 NFL Draft.

In this post, we are going to step into the minds of Kingsbury, general manager Steve Keim and the other Arizona Cardinals decision-makers to create an ideal draft class for the team. Here is a complete seven-round 2020 NFL mock draft for the Cardinals.

The Arizona Cardinals hold the eighth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. We see a lot of wide receivers mocked to the Cardinals in the first round and that certainly does make some sense. Kingsbury needs many gifted receivers to run his wide-open offensive attack and Larry Fitzgerald may not be back. That being said, this is a DEEP wide receiver class and with Cardinals quarterbacks getting sacked 50 times in 2019, the offensive line stands out as a much bigger immediate need for this team.

Instead of snagging an elite receiver at number eight, the Cardinals work on their offensive line by bringing in Georgia left tackle Andrew Thomas. While he is not an elite athlete at the offensive tackle position, Thomas is a mean and nasty mauler who can absolutely dominate at the point of attack. He is absolutely dominant as a run blocker, consistently clearing out rushing lanes for his backs.

In pass protection, Thomas shows a strong initial punch and fantastic overall hand usage. He has extremely long arms that he uses well and his mental capacity to handle stunts and blitzes is top-notch.

Thomas is not the most impressive athlete, but he is a strong pass protector and dominant run blocker who would come in and be an immediate improvement for the Arizona Cardinals at the left tackle position. Snagging a receiver here would be fun, but taking Thomas simply makes more sense.