F
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals reached for Travis and never recovered. Grade: F.
by Stan93 ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 23 picks
· 3 steals
· 13 reaches
The Jordan Travis pick is the one that will follow the Cardinals into the fall. They took him 32 spots ahead of his grade, and the board is not shy about saying so.
Overpaying at the table undid a lot of the good work elsewhere. Spend now, pay later; the math only works if this class delivers.
The Newton steal is the beam this whole class leans on.
In short, a weekend the front office will want to forget in a hurry.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 25 they get a disruptor off the edge at a price that makes it sweeter. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
In the 27th overall pick they get a run-stuffing presence up front, outstanding value to boot. A clean fit for the roster.
Tyler Guyton in pick No. 35 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
No edge and no loss on Jackson Powers-Johnson in the Round 2 slot; it is a wash and a sensible one. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They did well to land Ja'Lynn Polk in Round 2, Pick 28, just ahead of his grade. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Braden Fiske at No. 66 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
A reach for Mike Sainristil in the 71st pick; a little patience would have been rewarded. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Darius Robinson in slot 90 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Cooper Beebe at pick 91. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They reached a country mile for Malik Washington at the Round 3 slot, and the board is aghast. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Jordan Travis well ahead of where he belonged. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
A market-rate safety, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Cole Bishop. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
Jalyx Hunt at pick No. 135 is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. Where it fits the depth chart is the real question.
Value said wait; Chau Smith-Wade in Round 5, Pick 4 says they were not listening. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
A real head-scratcher, Cody Schrader in slot 141 is miles ahead of his ranking. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
A reach on Eric Watts in the 176th overall pick; the board had better options right there. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A premium they did not need to pay, Andrew Raym a notch or two before his time. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
No drama and no debate, JD Bertrand went about where he belonged in No. 188. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Brevyn Spann-Ford at Round 6, Pick 18 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Brian Ugwu in the 225th pick lands just on the right side of the ledger. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Maurice Smith. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Zion Logue at the Round 7 slot jumps the queue by a touch more than is comfortable. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Walter Rouse in pick No. 249 is the kind of reach that only looks good if he outplays it. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.