The Arizona Cardinals addressed the defensive line last year in both free agency and the NFL draft, signing Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols to three-year deals and then selecting Darius Robinson in the first round of the draft.
In new mock draft from NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, they continue the trend of beefing up the defensive interior.
In his new projections, they go with big Michigan defensive tackle Kenneth Grant with the 16th overall pick.
Grant would immediately assist against the run, and he has enormous upside as a pass rusher. The hope is he eventually develops into an impact defender in the mold of Dexter Lawrence.
The upside as a pass rusher is what would be key. You don’t generally want to take just a two-down nose tackle in the middle of the first round, but if he can also add pass-rushing juice, it’s worth it. He is 6-foot-3 and over 340 pounds and will likely put up freakishly athletic numbers at the combine.
A move like this would follow the model the Philadelphia Eagles have done, always adding athletic talent to the defensive interior.
While many would rather see the Cardinals go with an edge defender, no one immediately comes off the board. Marshall’s Mike Green goes ninth overall and Georgia’s Mykel Williams goes before the Cardinals’ pick. The next edge in the mock draft is Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart at No. 27, and taking a guy 16th who never had more than 1.5 sacks in a season would raise questions.
While the Cardinals have a decent quartet of defensive linemen already under contract next season (Jones, Nichols, Robinson and Dante Stills), Grant would immediately make the group better.
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