NFL mock draft, 3 rounds: QBs, trades, surprises in latest predictions
2021 NFL Draft: 11th pick
TRADE: Giants trade 11th pick to Cardinals for 16th pick, 2022 pick
Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. WR. 11. Alabama. DeVonta Smith. player. 32
Cardinals GM/HC: Steve Keim/Kliff Kingsbury
The Arizona Cardinals have been the ultimate aggressors in the 2021 offseason.
They must see an opening in the NFC West, because they have made significant moves to upgrade the roster and get veterans into their program who can help them win right now.
JJ Watt was the first big-name veteran to come aboard for the Cardinals, and shortly after that followed fellow 2011 NFL Draft classmate and one of the best receivers in the NFL over the last decade, AJ Green.
After Green’s arrival, the Cardinals brought in other veterans like cornerback and Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler (a true troll job on the Seahawks) and running back James Conner.
The Cardinals enter the 2021 NFL Draft with very little in the way of pressing areas of need. They could use more in the defensive backfield, but there are other ways they can acquire talent there. What the Cardinals may not want to pass up on?
The chance to add the dynamic DeVonta Smith to their already impressive offensive lineup.
The Cardinals, in this scenario, would be able to trot out a receiver group of DeAndre Hopkins, AJ Green, and DeVonta Smith with Kyler Murray providing his dual-threat abilities from under center. James Conner was a very worthwhile free agency flyer type of pickup, and Arizona would be able to utilize the rest of the rounds of this draft class plus other trades or free agency moves to fortify the rest of their roster.
DeVonta Smith would be able to give them what Christian Kirk and Andy Isabella — up to this point — have not.
Smith is slight at under 180 pounds, but he’s a dynamic playmaker who will enter an NFL camp ready to roll in terms of playing any of the receiver positions, running great routes, and making big plays to all levels of the field.
The Cardinals pay the price to move up and add a dynamic weapon to an offense that already has a bunch of them.