Arizona
Players who might be available the Arizona Cardinals should consider at No.35
Cardinals Draft Party kicks in gear with fans, cheerleaders and more
Arizona Cardinals fans gather for an NFL Draft party at State Farm Stadium Great Lawn.
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 32nd-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.