Arizona

Players who might be available the Arizona Cardinals should consider at No.35

Published

2 years ago

April 26, 2024

Players who might be available the Arizona Cardinals should consider at No.35

The Arizona Cardinals have the third pick when Round 2 gets underway at 4 p.m. (Arizona time). Whether they keep it is another matter. General Manager Monti Ossenfort said Thursday night that “our options are going to be plentiful for teams that are interested in coming up to us.”

“I feel really good. I feel really good,” Ossenfort said when asked about the prospects who could be available if he stays at No. 35. “We still have some players we really like up on the board. … We’ll be ready to pick a player at 35 and we’ll also have plenty of options in case we wanted to move around a little bit.”

Assuming they stay at 35, here are a few prospects who might be available that they should and likely will consider selecting:

DB Cooper DeJean, 6-1, 207, Iowa

The versatile DeJean can fit in anywhere in an NFL defensive secondary. He projects as a bigger nickel safety, but the Cardinals could play him as an outside cornerback, put him in the slot, or use him as a straight safety. He’s a fast, hard-hitting tackler with 41 tackles last season, two interceptions and five passes defensed. He’s also a very good punt returner, having returned 31 punts for 406 yards, including one for a touchdown.

CB Kool-Aid McKinstry, 5-11, 199, Alabama

It’s no secret the Cardinals would like to add another cornerback after signing free agent Sean Murphy-Bunting to a three-year contract. McKinstry entered the 2023 season as a favorite to be the first cornerback selected in this year’s draft, but he’d be a good catch now that he’s slipped out of the first round. He had 15 passes defensed in 2022 and although that number dropped to seven last year, he’s a sound press corner who started 33 games (93 career tackles, two interceptions). Like DeJean, he’s also returned punts – 35 of them for 418 yards (11.9-yard average).

CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr., 6-0, 188, Missouri

NFL Network draft analysts had Rakestraw Jr. rated as the fifth-best cornerback in the draft and the 32^nd-ranked prospect overall. He has decent length, very good start-and-stop ability and he’s solid against the run. He had 107 tackles in his four-year career at Missouri, including eight tackles for loss, and had 12 of his 24 passes defensed as a junior in 2022.

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Arizona

NFL mock draft: 4-round projections for Arizona Cardinals

Published

10 hours ago

April 19, 2026

Press Room

NFL mock draft: 4-round projections for Arizona Cardinals

In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.

We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?

Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.

Cardinals 4-round mock draft

Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.

Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber

What we think of the picks

The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.

Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.

Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.

Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.

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Detroit Lions NFL Draft Injury Report: Arizona State CB Keith Abney

Published

22 hours ago

April 18, 2026

Press Room

Detroit Lions NFL Draft Injury Report: Arizona State CB Keith Abney

Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.

Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:

(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)

Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State

Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.

Concern level 0/10

There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.

His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.

He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.

For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD

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Arizona baseball drops low-scoring series opener to Kansas State

Published

1 day ago

April 18, 2026

Press Room

Arizona baseball drops low-scoring series opener to Kansas State

Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.

In the first game of the series, Arizona (14-23, 5-11 Big 12) battled in a low-scoring affair but fell short in a 2-1 loss to Kansas State (24-12, 8-8 Big 12). The Wildcats from Tucson held the Wildcats from Manhattan at bay for a good majority of the night.

Given that Kansas State leads the Big 12 in conference play in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging, Arizona had a rather good performance, but it was not enough.

Owen Kramkowski pitched seven scoreless innings before allowing the first Kansas State run in the top of the eight. He finished with six strikeouts and kept the high octane Wildcats at bay.

“I thought the defense played well behind him too,” said head coach Chip Hale. “There’s a lot of ground balls, and we made plays where we were positioned in good places, and he was pitching in the eighth inning. That’s unbelievable.”

Garrett Hicks (3-1) came in to try and stop the bleeding for the Wildcats and did so by not allowing Kansas State to take the lead in the eighth. It was in the ninth when the lead was surrendered.

It took until the sixth inning but the first run was scored by Arizona. Andrew Cain singled to left field and after Maddox Mihalakis flew out, it was Beau Sylvester bringing Cain home with a triple through right center field.

Sylvester extended his hitting streak to eight games and it proved to be not enough to get Arizona to the finish line.

Kansas State tied the game at the top of the eight when back to back singles got runners on at first and third. Then a passed ball allowed the third base runner to come home.

Arizona had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the ninth after Cain singled to deep right field. With Sylvester back at the plate, it seemed like it was a perfect set up.

A wild pitch nearly got past Kansas State and Cain tried to take advantage of it and steal home. However, Kansas State was able to corral the pitch and get Cain out at home.

AJ Evasco started the ninth inning with a double for Kansas State and back to back fly outs eventually got him home to give Kansas State the lead and the win.

With eight players being left on base, Arizona will need to bring those runners in more often than not if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon.

As a young team, the Wildcats have had to walk a very tight line between disappointment and dejection and will need to continue handling these losses with grace if it wants to turn a corner.

“It’s the way it goes, it’s baseball,” said Hale. “If we don’t handle it, we will come out tomorrow and won’t be ready to go, so hopefully they handle it.”

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