Arizona Cardinals 7-round NFL mock draft: Keeping up with NFC West

Continuing the improvement of the Arizona Cardinals with a seven-round 2020 NFL mock draft.

The Arizona Cardinals finished last in the NFC West for the second consecutive time in 2019 with an unsatisfying record of 5-10-1. However, dims of sunlight could be seen at the other side of Arizona’s four-month-long tunnel with the on-field and sideline presence provided from a few newcomers: head coach Kliff Kingsbury, running back Kenyan Drake and quarterback Kyler Murray.

You could say that rookie quarterback Kyler Murray prospered, especially considering the minimal amount of talent surrounding him. Murray fought through the adversity and eventually earned himself the NFL’s rookie of the year award after the Arizona Cardinals forgetful season was all said and done. 

A couple more highlights from the season consisted of future HOF Larry Fitzgerald’s positive leadership and proven durability in the inexperienced receiving core. The Cardinals also got a steal with the Kenyan Drake trade that is already looking like it will make a positive impact for years to come.

But all this couldn’t overshadow the fact that the Arizona Cardinals haven’t been able to keep up in the tough and everlastingly improving division that is the NFC West the past couple of years. Last season, the Arizona Cardinals defense ranked as the worst in the NFL, allowing a distasteful average of over 400 yards per game… yuck.

They were also one of seven defenses in the NFL that suffered over 1,000 yards in penalties. On the opposite side of the ball, the offense remained inconsistent and would be extremely lousy at times and finished the season as the 21st ranked offense in terms of average yards per game.

Since Arizona is low on draft picks and has plenty of holes to fill on both sides of the ball, I think they’ll make a couple of small defensive splashes in free agency to accompany their future selections in April.

Other than Kenyan Drake, there is not gonna be too many major re-signs in the near future after D.J. Humphries. According to overthecap.com, the Arizona Cardinals are 20th in cap space in NFL with around $40M. And it seems like they’ll have a lot of dead cap with the benching and replacement of David Johnson, who is currently on the roster.

Overall, the Arizona Cardinals rebuild is still gonna need time even after this next season and their best case for continuing their steady improvement would be here in the draft.

The 2020 NFL Scouting Combine is over and the shifting of mindset for the annual NFL Draft has begun. As of this writing, the Arizona Cardinals only obtain six picks entering the draft. Here’s how they should utilize that minuscule amount of draft capital in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft.