The Arizona Cardinals could move up and down the NFL Draft board.
The Arizona Cardinals are in a very interesting situation at the moment.
The team owns the 16th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, which places them in a good position to move up and down the board or stay put and know they can still get a great player. It’s one of the more ideal spots any team has for this draft.
So, now the question becomes what will the team decide to do?
Obviously, there are really only three scenarios: trade up, trade down, or stay put. But a fourth and quite frankly insane possibility exists.
Whatever the team decides to do should ultimately come down to where they believe “their guy“ could/would be available. Maybe that’s a slight trade up the draft board or maybe they can stay put at 16.
Trade downs are very realistic possibilities, too. Arizona has six draft picks in a deep class and may prefer to add more for extra swings at the bat.
I do want to get one of those scenarios out of the way where the Cardinals stay put at 16. There’s not much to explore here compared to the other scenarios and seems a bit boring to discuss. But for what it’s worth, Arizona could see several players they value available at 16 and simply decide to take their guy there.
Let’s break down the other possible options for the team.
Move down with an AFC playoff team
There’s little shortage of AFC playoff teams who would like to move up the board and get players the players may feel put them over the top.
The Steelers may want to come up and get their quarterback in the future. The Chargers may want to secure a top pass catcher for this offense. The Texans may want to come up and beat up their offense. The Ravens may be interested in grabbing a top defensive back. The Chiefs may want to move up and secure an elite interior player.
Every single one of those possibilities exist for this team and it could work in the Cardinals favor in acquiring extra ammo or perhaps even a player or two.
A move down could be as low as the Broncos at 20 or as high as the Chiefs at 31. But the one thing we can guarantee is no matter how extreme the move down is that Arizona can still find a starting caliber player at either spot.
Make a slight move up to ensure their guy
Cardinal fans know exactly who they want and we can perhaps piece together who the franchise may be looking at, too. Some of those guys could require moving up the board to secure, even if it’s fewer than five picks. But you gotta do what you gotta do.
For me, there are two players I would consider the most in a slight move up the board: Mike Green and Will Johnson.
I’ve been on Green for sometime and won’t be moving off him barring something extreme. There’s a lot of Robert Quinn to his game as a highly productive sack artist with the potential to stand up or play with a hand down.
Johnson is a newer name in circles, but it’s not hard to understand why. A deep corner room still needs a number one guy and Johnson is him. He’s able to mix elite ball skills to go with lockdown ability on the outside.
Neither of these guys should require a substantial jump up the board; there’s a realistic chance Arizona doesn’t have to move at all. But if they wanna make sure that they get one of them, then they should be willing to make a slight move.
Break the bank and go top-10
On the flip-side of things, the Cards could go all-in and crack the top 10 to get one of the classes top prospects.
There are several players that are unlikely to fall out of the top-10 who Arizona may have peak interest in. Players like Mason Graham, Armand Membou, or maybe even then Abdul Carter could peak their interest… but grabbing them wouldn’t be cheap.
A move that extreme would require extreme compensation — something the team doesn’t have much of this year. It likely would require moving future picks, but that could be something the team is willing to do to get their guy.
If the team made a move to grab one of those players, the fan base could explode with excitement.
Move out of round one
Then at the very, very opposite end of the spectrum, we could see the Cardinals move out of day one entirely. A move down this far would be cataclysmic consider considering their picking 16… but it’s not completely out of the realm of possibilities.
This draft has a countless amount of players who could have day one impacts throughout all three days of the draft, and includes the top of day two. That’s a rarity, especially in a class that is considered top-heavy.
The Cardinals could use one of those top, heavy talents, but drastic moves down the board to secure more day two picks and more than likely future draft picks for what appears to be an elite 2026 class may be worth it.