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2013 Draft - Position Needs
By Jeff Gollin
Last Updated
April 13, 2013
Return to Highlights Page
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Quarterbacks: |
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2013 Pre-Draft
Clean slate under Arians. He traded for Carson Palmer and signed his protege Stanton. Hoyer
only appeared in one game last season and is practically "new." Lindley
could stick as the Cardinal QBOF, but the odds are better than
even that the Cards will seek another QB through the draft (though
probably not with their #7 pick. They could possibly use their #38
pick to draft a QB like G.Smith, Barkley or Manuel (or even trade
up into the late 1st round if they really liked one of them. More
likely, they'd wait until the 3rd round or even hope to
cherry-pick Matt Scott in round 4. |
03 Carson
Palmer QB 6-5 235 (10) USC (Trade with Oakland
05 Drew Stanton QB 6-3 243Michigan St. - UFA
06 Brian Hoyer QB 6-2 215 27 4 Michigan
St. - UFA
14 Ryan Lindley QB 6-4 230 22 San Diego State
- Contract Exp: 2015 |
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Running Backs: |
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2013 Pre-Draft
The Cards replaced the oft' injured Beanie
Wells with the oft' injured Mendenhall. It's hoped that Mendenhall
and (the also oft' injured) Ryan Williams will provide the
Cardinals with an effective (& healthy) RB tandem. Also gone is
scatback LaRod Stephens-Howling who provided the Cards with a
decent passing down option. It seemed as if the Cards would
replace LSH with waterbug wide-out Josh Cribbs, but Cribbs will
have to pass his physical first. Some expect the Cards to add RB
speed in the mid-rounds - most frequently mentioned possibility
being Christine (& I kind of like Kenyjon Barner). Michael Sherman
was valuable as a lead blocker/special teamer, but could be
obsolete - Arians is said to favor single-back sets with an H-Back
over one with a traditional fullback lined up in the backfield. Expect Powell and Smith
(both strong between the tackles) to duke it out for
one or two backup positions in training camp. |
28 Rashard Mendenhall RB 5-10 225(5) Illinois
34 Ryan Williams RB
5-9 212 Virginia Tech
33 William Powell 5-9 205 RB K-State UDFA
29 Alfonso Smith RB 6-1 208 23 R Kentucky
35 Anthony
Sherman FB 5-10 242 UConn |
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Wide Receivers: |
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2013 Pre-Draft
Early Doucet didn't pan out and was released. Fitz's numbers were down through no fault of his own. Roberts
figures to be a solid #2 or #3 with the right QB throwing to him.
Floyd has terrific upside in a "beast" role., but still has a
lot to learn. Byrd showed promise in
limited action. Taylor is a
local product we don't know much about. This is a solid 4 or 5-man
unit that could use a few promising youngsters for depth. Missing
is a true burner who can take the top off a defensive secondary.
If we sign Cribbs, that piece of the puzzle could be filled. If
not, there has been growing buzz that Tavon Austin would be in the
Cards' headlights. More likely, the Cards might look to add a
game-breaker like Marquise Goodwin, Markus Wheaton, Kenny Stills
or Ryan Swope later in the draft. |
11
Larry Fitzgerald, Pitt, 6-3 223 (D1)
- Contract Exp: 2018
12 Andre Roberts WR
5-10¾ 195
Citadel (D3)
- Contract Exp: 2013
17 LaRon Byrd WR 6-4 220 22 R Miami (FL) -
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Contract Exp: 2014
15 Michael Floyd WR 6-3 225 22 R Notre Dame
- Contract Exp: 2015
18 Kerry Taylor WR 6-0 200 1 ASU - Reserve Futures |
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Tight Ends: |
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2013 Pre-Draft
This unit was weakened with the departure of Heap. King is the best blocker of
the group, can catch in the clutch and provides veteran
leadership. Housler improved in more of a receiving role. Dray
continues to hang in there, but hasn't done much special to
impress. Don't know much about Sperry who joined team late in the
season. We don't think the Cards have made TE a burning priority,
but their silence about the position could signal a move to pick
up another TE as early as 38 (if Eifert was still there) or a
lesser-known one later in the draft. |
87 Jeff King 6-3
260 Va. Tech (Panthers)
-
Contract Exp: 2013
84 Rob
Housler 6-5 250 Florida Atlantic
- Contract Exp: 2014
81 Jim Dray
6-4¾ 251 (D7) Stanford
-
Contract Exp: 2013
30 Korey Sperry TE 6-5 265 (4) Colorado St
- Contract Exp: 2013 |
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Offensive Linemen: |
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2013
Pre-Draft I
was
not happy with the Cardinal offensive line play last year, nor am
I fully confident that Levi Brown will do a satisfactory job at LT
now that he's back. So far, the only
addition to the OL made in free agency was OG Chilo Racal who'd be
expected to challenge for a starting job. As of right now, our
starting line-up would figure to be LT-Brown - LG-Colledge -
C-Sendlein -RG-Snyder - RT-Massie with Potter our backup
tackle, Rachal and Kelemete backup guards and Snyder doubling as
backup center and the rest of the guys fighting to survive on the
roster. Although there are some Cardinal officials and fans who
feel that our rookie tackles (Potter and Massie) have shown
sufficient improvement, that Levi has been unfairly criticized and
that the unit as-is should become much better under new coaching -
the smart money has the Cards using 2 of their first 3 or 4 picks
on offensive linemen. There are 5 elite linemen this draft
(Joeckel, Fisher, L Johnson, Warmack and Cooper) - plus Fluker who
figures to be gone by mid-round). If one of them is available at
#7, the Cards are better than 50-50 to draft one of them. (The
other less likely possibilities being to draft an available edge
pass-rusher, a brick-wall NT or trading down a bit). It will all
boil down to what the Cardinal Top 7 board looks like (Don't
expect Steve Keim or BA to share this info with us). If the Cards
don't draft offensive linemen high, look for them to consider
second-echelon linemen like Quessenberry, Thornton, Warford,
Schwenke, Fredrickson or Barrett Jones. |
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63 Lyle Sendlein C (6-2, 305)
-Texas
-
Contract Exp: 2015
71 Daryl Colledge T 6-4 308 Boise St. FA Pack
-
Contract Exp: 2015
68 Adam Snyder 6-6 325 Oregon
- Contract Exp: 2016
73 Chilo Rachal G 6-5 323 (5) USC (Bears, Niners)
64 Senio Kelemete G
6-4 301 21 R Washington
- Contract Exp: 2015
70 Bobby Massie T 6-6 316 22 R
Mississippi
- Contract Exp: 2015
76 Nate Potter T 6-6 300 23 R Boise State
- Contract Exp: 2015
69 Mike Gibson G/T 6-4 305 (4) California
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Contract Exp: 2013
66
Scott Wedige C 6-4 310 R Northern Illinois - Contract Exp: 2014
75 Levi Brown T 6-5 323 Penn St (D1)
-
Contract Exp: 2016
65 Jeremiah Warren G 6-4 320 South Florida - Reserve Futures
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Defensive Linemen: |
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2013 Pre-Draft
The
Cards seem to be happy with the configuration of its starting DL
(with big ol' Dan Williams sandwiched between "The Penetrator"
(Darnell Dockett) and "The Sky-Scraper" (Calais Campbell).
They appear to be providing depth
behind DDocket with Frostee Rucker and behind Campbell with
Thompson and Shaughnessy. Carter was an admirable backup to
Williams inside (but quicker, more mobile and with less sand in
his pants). Talley and Lumpkin provide rotational backup depth.
The Cards need to develop more of a pass-rush presence overall.
One of the ways this can be accomplished (besides using
edge-rushing OLB's and blitz-packages that feature a lot
DB's) is draft one or more DE's who can rush the passer. They
could go the DE/OLB tweener route and look closely at Werner,
Mingo or D Moore. Or they could consider physical clones of
Dockett or Campbell who can rush the passer (like Margus Hunt or
Datone Jones) or an athletic freak (like Ziggy Ansah) who's
smaller than DDock and Calais but bigger than the other
designated rushers in this draft. Other than Ansah (or possibly
Mingo) I don't think we'd consider a DE at #7, but it could
definitely be a possibility at #38 or later. |
90 Darnell Dockett DT-DE 6-3 292 Florida St. (D3)
- Contract Exp: 2015
92 Dan Williams NT 6-2 327
Tennessee
- Contract Exp: 2014
93 Calais Campbell DE 6-8 283 Miami (D2)
- Contract Exp: 2016
91 Matt Shaughnessy DE/UT
6-5 285
98 Frostee Rucker DE 6-3 280 (7) USC
79 David Carter DE 6-5 300 UCLA
- Contract Exp: 2014
96 Ronald Talley DE 6-3 286 Delaware-ER
95 Ricky Lumpkin
6-4 306 Kentucky - Status Unclear
60 Everette Thompson 6-6 272
R Washington - Reserve Futures
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Linebackers: |
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2013 Pre-Draft
Cards took a hit with the departure of edge-rusher Groves, Bradley
and Lenon along with the 4-game suspencion of DWash. The Cards
replaced them with Brinkley and Alexander. (The versatile
Alexander was initially penciled in at OLB but may have to fill in
at ILB until Washington returns. According to D Urban, Acho's numbers were down last
season, but Horton swore by him (but Horton won't be back as DC,
so we'll just have to see). Schofield had pass rushing talent but
got injured just as he was settling in opposite Acho. Walker is ready to either step
up or step out (probably the former). Fugger, Nash and Parker are
all young guys fighting for a roster spot. The Cards could use an
edge-rusher and figure to be zeroing in on a few draft prospects,
but there's a shortage of elite edge-rushers in this draft
(especially at OLB). The Cards could explore converting a smaller,
explosive DE (like ansah, Mingo or Moore) to play OLB, but the
transition is seldom as easy as you'd think. If Jordan were
somehow available at #7, the Cards would be hard-pressed not to
take him. It's likely that he won't be there and the Cards will,
no doubt take a hard look from #38 or later at OLB's like J Jones,
Jenkins or Gooden. |
94 Sam Acho LB 6-2 257 Texas
- Contract Exp: 2014
58 Daryl
Washington ILB 6-1¾ 230 (D2) TCU
- Contract Exp: 2017
50 O Brien Schofield 6-2 230 R Wisconsin
- Contract Exp: 2013
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