Cardinals
ians are shown smiling at the thought of drafting Abdullah.
“We’ve been talking about this pick since the combine,” Arians said in the video.
Then Detroit, with the 54th pick, called Abdullah’s agent to say they were taking him. Abdullah relayed the information to the Cardinals, whose draft room became somber.
The Cardinals quickly regrouped. Keim traded with the Ravens to move down three spots where the Cardinals took outside linebacker Markus Golden. And in the third round, the Cardinals drafted a running back they had ranked behind Abdullah, a kid out of Northern Iowa named David Johnson.
“It’s definitely crazy how things work out,” Johnson said. “Me and Markus talk about that all the time, how different our lives would have been if Ameer would have came here.”
Judging by the past two years, the Lions did the Cardinals a favor by taking Abdullah. He’s played well when healthy, but he missed 14 games last season after suffering a foot injury in Week 2.
Johnson has proved to be one of the more talented backs in the NFL. In 2016, he set franchise records for touchdowns (20) and scrimmage yards (2,118). Over his first 32 games, Johnson has scored 32 touchdowns. Only six players in NFL history scored more touchdowns in that period of their careers.
Johnson also became the first player in NFL history to record at least 100 yards from scrimmage in the first 15 games of a season.
Golden’s career arc has been similar to Johnson’s. A part-time starter as a rookie, Golden became a regular in 2016 and led the team in sacks with 12.5.
Golden has a standard answer when people ask him about the circumstances that led to the Cardinals drafting him in the second round.
“I’m glad to be with the Cardinals organization, but anywhere ... I would have had success,” he said.
Golden didn’t watch “All or Nothing,” but he’s heard the play-by-play of the Cardinals draft room on that May 1.
“Once you start googling your name, it pops up there,” he said. “That’s the business side of it. I bet everybody is happy that didn’t happen.”
Abdullah, who is expected to start for the Lions on Sunday, was well aware of the Cardinals’ interest in him in the weeks leading up to the draft. As a youngster in Alabama, he attended a camp that Arians and his son, Jake, operated in Birmingham. Abdullah told Detroit reporters this week that he was the camp’s most valuable player when he was a sophomore in high school.
“He (Arians) was high on me then and it was just ironic that he reached back out, I was on the phone with him, but I’m glad I’m in Detroit,” he said. “It all worked out.”
On draft day, Abdullah is the one who broke the bad news to Arians: Detroit was going to draft him.
“I don’t think he was happy about it,” Abdullah said. “Of course, you put your eggs in a basket, thinking it was going to work out. It don’t, but shoot, they ended up getting David Johnson next round so things worked out. Both teams got the person they wanted.”
Not all of what happened that day can be attributed to luck, Arians said. Things worked out for the Cardinals because Keim and his scouting staff had compiled a draft board that allowed them to quickly get over the disappointment of losing Abdullah.
“It’s happened to me at least eight or nine times,” Arians said. “Sitting there thinking, ‘Oh, we’ve got this guy,’ and boom, he’s gone either the pick right before or two picks before."
The lesson from that day is to have the draft board set correctly and move on, Arians said.
“Steve and Terry have done a great job of always having two or three guys right there, that we’re going to get one of these guys,” he said. “And if we don’t like this one, have them ranked, and turn that card in and make sure everybody’s happy. Because I don’t think we’ve ever picked a guy that I haven’t been happy about.”