ARIZONA CARDINALS
Round 2 (No. 55 overall) – Trey McBride, TE, Colorado State: The 2021 All-American and Mackey Award winner as college football’s top tight end is an exceptional possession receiver (91 catches for 1,125 yards last season) who’s also the increasingly rare dual threat able to serve as an effective blocker. Another gift for QB Kyler Murray, McBride will get to learn from vet Zach Ertz in 2022.
Round 3 (87) – Cameron Thomas, DE, San Diego State: Arizona needs to replace Chandler Jones’ production, and Thomas (6-4, 267) offered up plenty in 2021 with 101⁄2 sacks and 201⁄2 TFLs.
Round 3 (100, special compensatory, from Ravens) – Myjai Sanders, DE, Cincinnati: More edge help for Arizona, Sanders will probably need to add bulk to his rail-thin 6-5, 228-pound build.
Round 6 (201) – Keaontay Ingram,
RB, Southern Cal
Round 6 (215, compensatory) – Lecitus Smith, OG, Virginia Tech
Round 7 (244) – Christian Matthew, CB, Valdosta State
Round 7 (256, compensatory) – Jesse Luketa, LB, Penn State
Round 7 (257, compensatory) – Marquis Hayes, OG, Oklahoma
Grade: D
McBride (is a sweet player, but are the Cards suddenly going base double-tight after re-signing Zach Ertz for three more years? But far more head scratching was sacrificing their first-round pick to get Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, a teammate of QB Kyler Murray at Oklahoma, both former Sooners heading into their fourth seasons. Brown has scary speed and maybe didn’t get to showcase it enough on a Baltimore offense that wanted to run the ball. But hard to believe that GM Steve Keim didn’t severely overpay – especially since he’ll also presumably be on the hook for extensions for Brown and Murray at any minute.