Buying, Selling Cardinals NFL Draft Rumors

Rumors are flying with the 2025 NFL Draft opening tomorrow night, and the Arizona Cardinals are amongst one of the more interesting teams this year. There’s a myriad of options the team can go with needs across the roster, but Arizona owns just six draft selections.

What they do will be noteworthy for a team that was contending for the playoffs over the first half of the season.

As we start to wonder what may happen on Thursday night, we turn our attention to rumors floating around the draft — several of which include the Cardinals.

It’s lying season and there’s tons of smoke screens out there, but is there anything that we can trust with so many headlines out?

I’m taking a look at a small handful of realistic rumors surrounding Arizona. Note that these rumors surround the first round only.

You won’t find anything insane like the team drafting a quarterback in round one… But they could look at positions we don’t expect them to address early.

Speaking of which, let’s go ahead and start there:

Wide Receiver is a legitimate option in Round 1

There have been so many mock drafts from analysts with legitimate insider knowledge featuring the Cardinals drafting a wide receiver in the first round; Texas' Matthew Golden has been the most popular prospect mocked.

It's also been stated Arizona wants to add to its wide receiver room is one of the draft's "worst kept secret."

All of this in mind makes me believe there is some possibility we could see this come to fruition. Even beyond Golden, Emeka Egbuka, Luther Burden, and maybe even Tetairoa McMillan could be available when the team is on the clock.

I'm not investing too much stock into it, but I'd be foolish to completely rule it out...

Verdict: SOFT BUY

Heavy interest in trading down

As long as Monti Ossenfort continues running the Cardinals' front office, we can always safely assume the team will be looking to trade down the board.

This wouldn’t be a bad year to do it either. This draft class has far more value selections than players to sell the farm for. It leaves Arizona in a spot where they can field calls for teams that want move up the board to secure a player they feel the need to have.

All signs point to this being the direction the team goes, especially with only six draft picks.

Verdict: BUY

Expect multiple trade downs

It’s never a bad idea to trade down the board to stock up picks and get the most bang for your buck in terms of value. But at some point you still need to make a selection, and this is a draft class I advise the Cardinals not to get overly cute when it comes to trade downs.

There’s not too many elite talents in this class, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find several role players or even starters throughout the draft. That said, you can’t just bank off of nailing every pick… You’d rather come away with a draft of five players who will all find roles immediately than 15 players who will struggle to get on the field.

We know Ossenfort is going to want to move up and down the board and be aggressive with trading. I would predict to do it at least once on day one, but hopefully that’s where it ends.

Verdict: SELL

All-in on a Texas Longhorn for Round 1

There are three Texas players who should hear their name called on Thursday night and it feels like a realistic scenario to see one of them start their career in the desert.

Offensive lineman Kelvin Banks, wide receiver Matthew Golden, and defensive back Jahdae Barron all feel like locks for the first round with a chance to be day one starters for their future teams. It also just so happens that those three fill needs for the Cardinals.

It does make a bit more sense then that easy could add one of these players to their team. There also appears to be a lot of smoke behind that rumor.

I believe each player has their own value, but as a whole I’m buying the Cardinals may spend their first-round pick on a former Longhorn.