Entering the Arizona Cardinals 2016 NFL Draft, the team wasn’t so much looking forward, yet looking back. The Cardinals finished last season as one of the teams to beat around the National Football League. Unfortunately, a disastrous performance from Carson Palmer in the NFC Championship game kept the team from earning a Super Bowl appearance.
In the months that have followed, Arizona has done everything possible to build an even stronger team, including the trade for former New England Patriots pass rusher Chandler Jones.
While the addition of Jones did come at the cost of a second-round pick in the Arizona Cardinals 2016 NFL Draft, the team set out to build depth on its roster during the 2016 NFL Draft.
Here’s a look at how things went for the team in the desert.
Arizona Cardinals 2016 NFL Draft
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[mks_accordion_item title=”Round 1, 29th Overall: Robert Nkemdiche, DT, Mississippi”]
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[mks_accordion_item title=”Round 3, 92nd Overall: Brandon Williams, CB, Texas A&M”]
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[mks_accordion_item title=”Round 4, 128th Overall: Evan Boehm, C, Missouri”]
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[mks_accordion_item title=”Round 5, 167th Overall: Marqui Christian, S, Midwestern State”]
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[mks_accordion_item title=”Round 5, 170th Overall: Cole Toner, G, Harvard”]
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[mks_accordion_item title=”Round 6, 205th Overall: Harlan Miller, CB, Southeastern Louisiana”]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c4H4XsX2LI&feature=youtu.be&t=241
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The sure-thing stud: Robert Nkemdiche, DT
On the field, there’s little doubt about what this former Ole Miss standout can do. At 6-foot-3 and 294 pounds, Nkemdiche has the powerful frame to stand up against tougher offensive linemen in the NFL. Now add in his explosiveness off the snap and plus-level lateral movement, and he’s going to be a major headache for opposing offenses.
Likely to play along the interior of Arizona’s defensive line, Nkemdiche has the quickness to take advantage of less-than-athletic guards/centers. When asked to be an EDGE guy in specific packages, his power will cause mismatches against smaller offensive tackles.
While there are obviously some concerns over his off-field issues, the team is potentially the best place for Nkemdiche to land when it came to the Cardinals. Here’s a team that’s made a habit out of picking up prospects with checkered histories and seeing it work out. The idea here is to build a foundation that helps these young men improve their ways off the field. The best example of this being Pro Bowl defensive back Tyrann Mathieu
Adding Nkemdiche and Chandler Jones within a couple months is going to bolster a Cardinals defensive line that was lacking stand-out talent a season ago — a defensive line that can now be considered elite.
The sleeper: Harlan Miller, CB
There were some experts that had Miller as a mid Day 2 pick. Considering he’s a small-school product, this is definitely an indication that the tape was friendly for the 6-foot corner.
The interesting thing here is that Miller could very well play a role for the Cardinals as a rookie. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him compete with Asa Jackson and Shaun Prater for a spot in the team’s corner rotation.
Aggressive is the aspect of Miller’s game that stands out the most. He’s a confident kid on the outside and will not allow receivers to catch him being passive in coverage. Miller also boasts the quick feet and strong lateral movement to keep with receivers, even when he’s beat off the line in press coverage.
These are all aspects of the game that Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians and general manager Steve Keim look for and found in the Arizona Cardinals 2016 NFL Draft. If Miller is coached up early in his career (a likelihood in Arizona), he could turn out to be a real stud.
The project: Brandon Williams, CB
The 3rd Round pick in the Arizona Cardinals 2016 NFL Draft was questionable for multiple reasons. First off, Arizona didn’t receive a ton of value by selecting Williams in the third round. Among other experts not too high on the Texas A&M product, Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller had him as the 27th-best corner and 233rd-best player in the draft.
The issue with selecting a player from a Power 5 school this high when pundits question the value is that there’s enough tape for us to draw a reasonable conclusion about his ability to translate to the NFL.
The talent is surely here, but Williams has only one season of experience at corner. Before that, he was a running back for both Oklahoma and A&M. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the learning curve is going to be real here.
In this, Arizona’s sixth-round pick (Harlan Miller) should be a more immediate impact performer than Williams.
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