PFF: Cardinals Should Draft This Position

2025 NFL Draft day is here, and the Arizona Cardinals will have a chance to welcome their newest addition to the desert.

Much has been written, speculated, plastered all over social media and talked to death about just who Monti Ossenfort will choose at pick 16, if he even picks at that number.

But Pro Football Focus offered their own set of advice to all 32 NFL teams, giving their take on what each franchise should do in the 2025 draft. For the Cardinals, it was a simple directive: draft a cornerback.

From PFF:

"The Cardinals could use an impact cornerback outside. They haven’t spent a first-round pick on a cornerback since 2011, when they took Patrick Peterson at No. 5. Garrett Williams has been stellar playing inside, but none of the team's outside cornerbacks earned a PFF coverage grade above 66.0 in 2024."

This statement tracks with much of the rhetoric surrounding the Cardinals pre-draft. In mock drafts and overall analysis.

But Arizona's top option at that position, CB Will Johnson out of Michigan, has a medical concern with regard to his knee — a tough injury to overcome for a DB.

Maybe this means the Cardinals pivot to Texas CB Jahdae Barron, maybe it means they look deeper in the Draft for a CB, or perhaps it's simply something to ignore. It does seem likely Ossenfort will add to the CB room, as Arizona's outside corners have struggled, but they've also shown significant development.

It's easy to examine players like Max Melton, Starling Thomas V, or even veteran Sean Murphy-Bunting and assume that their poor grades are a result of poor play across the board. Sure, they've each had their struggles, but the unit trended upward in a notable fashion as the year progressed.

Add to the equation the fact that Arizona operated with nearly no pass rush, and it's easy to imagine a significant leap for each of these young corners with the added help of Josh Sweat and Dalvin Tomlinson, as well as the developmental prowess of former DB coach and current Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon.

But that's not to say a cornerback would be a poor choice in this draft, and adding an impact player at that position could ultimately be the best available option.

We'll just have to wait and see.