With the Arizona Cardinals now in the offseason, it is NFL draft season. The college football season is over and the player evaluations for the NFL draft are being prepared.
That means it is also mock draft season.
NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah released his first mock draft of the season and the Cardinals land a stud.
They land Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson with the third overall pick in the draft.
The Cardinals are desperate for edge-rush talent, and Anderson is clearly the best in this class. He can win with speed and power.
The surprise is they don’t have to choose between him and Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter. He goes first overall to the Chicago Bears.
The truth is that the Bears will likely trade down unless they are in love with a particular player they don’t know they will land if they move back.
In 2022, Anderson had 51 tackles, 10 sacks and 17 tackles for loss. He also picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown.
But the 6-4, 235-lb edge rusher had 101 tackles, 17.5 sacks and 31 tackles for loss in 2021.
He is an elite prospect. Adding him to a group of Markus Golden, Cameron Thomas and Myjai Sanders would be a great core of pass rushers to have in 2023 and beyond.
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