Mocking the latest Arizona Cardinals mock draft trades

Will GM Monti Ossenfort stay or go at #4? Let’s explore scenarios where he trades down. What do we make of these recent mock draft trade scenarios? (Spoilers: Most of them are terrible!)

We’ve almost made it, Birdgang: the 2024 NFL Draft is a week away. Throughout the buildup to the draft, the Arizona Cardinals have been one of the most intriguing teams to watch around the league. Will they trade down to a QB-needy team to stockpile extra draft picks? Or will they stand pat and take a blue-chip WR prospect like (hopefully) Marvin Harrison Jr.?

We’ll see what GM Monti Ossenfort does one week from today.

For now, mock draft season is still in full swing. Most draftniks seem pretty split on whether Monti will stay at #4 or trade back. I made my position on the matter clear a few weeks ago: I think he’d be making a colossal mistake if he passed on MHJ and traded back.

But let’s say he ignores my obviously correct advice and does move back. What are the mockers saying he’d be able to get to move back from #4? Remember that he is supposedly looking for three 1^st-rounders. And who would he wind up taking in the 1^st round wherever they wind up picking?

Let’s take a look at a handful of scenarios from recent mock drafts. I’ll rate each scenario on the following scale:

*** – Tolerable. I’ll grumble (a lot) but I could stomach it.

** – Don’t Like It At All. I’ll rant and rave and likely cuss up a storm, but it could be worse.

* – Hate It. I’ll be punching a hole in my flatscreen and/or tossing it out a window.

Yes, tolerable is as good as it gets—as mentioned above, I’m a full proponent of standing pat and taking MHJ (assuming he’s available). So let’s see if any of these scenarios are anything MHJ stans could stomach or if they’d be punching holes in their flatscreens. We’ll start with the worst potential trades and move up to the most tolerable.

Associated Press Mock Draft 3.0 (Rob Maaddi)

• Trade With Bills: “This blockbuster deal sends pick No. 28, a second-rounder (60), a fourth (128), a fifth (160) and a 2025 first and second to Arizona for No. 4 and a 2025 fourth.”
• Cardinals 1^st-Round Picks: WR Troy Franklin (#27), OT Amarius Mims (#28)
• Rating: * – Hate It

Well, this is about the worst Cardinals mock I have ever seen. My reaction can be summed up in this gif from Team America: World Police. Let’s break it down: we pass up MHJ to move down TWENTY-FOUR(!) spots and wind up with a WR who isn’t even in Mel Kiper’s top-10 WRs (Insider link)? For what? Picks at the end of the 1^st and 2^nd round next year? At least we got a 2^nd and a 4^th this year. (Oh, plus we lose a 4^th this year.) Egads, this is as bad as it gets. Monti should be fired on the spot if he were to make this deal—this is Jaguars in Draft Day–level bad.

Touchdown Wire 2024 NFL Mock Draft (Doug Farrar)

• Trade With Bears: “In return for that fourth pick, the Cardinals get the Bears’ ninth pick, and a bevy of later picks which they can use to re-stack that roster and become competitive again.”
• Cardinals 1^st-Round Picks: CB Terrion Arnold (#9), WR AD Mitchell (#27)
• Rating: * – Hate It

This one is a bit tougher to rate since we don’t know exactly what is included in that “bevy of later picks.” Would the Bears move next year’s 1^st to move up 5 spots for the #1 WR in the class? Let’s assume they do, as well as, say, a 3^rd this year. We do badly need a CB and Arnold is one of the best in this draft class, Mitchell is a top-5-ish WR, and we’d still get a decent player with this year’s 3^rd as well as the 1^st next year (let’s project it at an even #16 overall). I don’t necessarily mind the haul in a vacuum and Arnold would be a nice pickup, but many believe Mitchell’s bust potential is fairly high. You have to get a better WR than him. (Or Franklin.) I like this scenario better than the last one because we’re not moving back TWENTY-FOUR(!) spots and do land good prospects at positions of need, but Monti HAS to do a lot better than this if he does wind up trading back.

CBS 2024 NFL Mock Draft (Josh Edwards)

• Trade With Vikings: “Minnesota will have to trade away a package that includes three first-round picks for the right to move up from No. 11 overall to take the fourth quarterback.”
• Cardinals 1^st-Round Picks: CB Quinyon Mitchell (#11), EDGE Jared Verse (#23), DT Johnny Newton (#27)
• Rating: * – Hate It

This time, Monti does get his asking price of three 1^st-rounders: #11, #23, and next year’s 1^st from the Vikings. Okay, that’s a decent starting point. But if Monti is hoping for another high 1^st next year, he only has to look back at the Texans trade last year. Who’s to say that J.J. McCarthy doesn’t develop immediate chemistry with Justin Jefferson and lead the Vikings back to the playoffs? But that’s looking too far ahead. As far as this year’s draft goes, Monti infuses a ton of talent into the defense, adding a top CB prospect, an intriguing pass rusher, and a top-5-ish DT. So why the “Hate It” grade? Simple—any draft where we don’t come away with a WR in the 1st round is a failure in my eyes. You simply need to put more weapons around Kyler Murray if he’s your franchise QB (and he’s being paid like one). I like this the best of the scenarios where the Redbirds don’t wind up with one of the top WR prospects, but I’d still be in the market for a new flatscreen come next weekend.

NFL.com 2024 Mock Draft 1.0 (Peter Schrager)

• Trade With Giants: “New York moves up two spots — tossing Arizona this year’s third-round pick (No. 70 overall) and next year’s second-rounder — to land McCarthy.”
• Cardinals 1^st-Round Picks: WR Rome Odunze (#6), DE Darius Robinson (#27)
• Rating: ** – Don’t Like It At All

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. We pick up a couple Day 2 picks to move back just two spots and still land my second-favorite WR prospect in Odunze, and Robinson seems like a solid value at #27. I wouldn’t need to replace my flatscreen if this happened, but, as we’ll see below, Monti can do better than this. The 2^nd and 3^rd just aren’t enough to pass up Harrison, and I’d rather we tried to move up (or even down) at #27 than take a D-lineman there (I’d rather go CB or OL, I think). This seems like trading back just to trade back—I’d hope Monti would reject this and sit put and grab MHJ.

Fox Sports NFL Mock Draft (Nick Wright)

• Trade With Giants: “Giants receive: No. 4 pick, Cardinals receive: No. 6 and the Giants’ 2025 first-round pick.”
• Cardinals 1^st-Round Picks: WR Malik Nabers (#6), CB Kool-Aid McKinstry (#27)
• Rating: *** – Tolerable

This is basically a straight upgrade from the trade above, with Monti nabbing a 2025 1^st instead of two Day 2 picks (and one next year, at that). That’s a nice haul to move back just two spots and still have your choice between Nabers and Odunze. Like I mentioned above, I prefer Odunze and his size and contested catch skills over Nabers’s quickness and speed, but as long as Monti lands one of the two, I’d be okay with it. We also get a CB instead of a D-lineman in this scenario, which helps with our other glaring roster need. Then you’d just need to hope McCarthy doesn’t pull a Stroud and lead the Giants to the playoffs for this to be a pretty clear win for Monti. I just… would still prefer MHJ. Or our final scenario below.

NFL.com 2024 Mock Draft (Chad Reuter)

• Trade With Broncos: “Sean Payton gives up [#12 plus] first- and third-round picks in 2025 for his quarterback of the future.”
• Trade With Falcons: “After initially moving down from No. 4, GM Monti Ossenfort trades the 12th overall pick, a third- and a fifth-rounder to jump back up for this selection.”
• Cardinals 1^st-Round Picks: WR Rome Odunze (#8), CB Nate Wiggins (#27)
• Rating: *** – Tolerable

All right, if Monti is gonna trade down from #4 this is how he should do it with shades of last year’s wheeling and dealing. He doesn’t get three 1^st-rounders, but he does get two plus a third, which makes losing one to trade back up to #8 more palatable. This package is comparable to the one above, but I’d rather get future picks from the Broncos (tougher conference, worse roster) than the Giants. Plus I prefer Odunze over Nabers and Wiggins over McKinstry, so this is by far my favorite of all the trade-down scenarios. Would I still rather have MHJ? You bet! But my second-favorite WR, the consensus #4 CB, and a 2025 1^st and 3^rd rounders is a decent consolation prize.

The Athletic 7-Round NFL Mock Draft (Dane Brugler)

• Trade With Vikings: “Projected trade: Vikings trade picks Nos. 11 and 23 and a 2025 third-round pick to the Cardinals for No. 4.”
• Trade With Chargers: “Projected trade: Cardinals trade picks Nos. 11 and 35 to the Chargers for No. 5.”
• Cardinals 1^st-Round Picks: WR Marvin Harrison Jr. (#5), CB Cooper DeJean (#23), EDGE Chop Robinson (#27)
• Rating: ***** – Like It, Love It, Gotta Have It

But wait! We have one final scenario, a dream scenario where Monti is able to both trade down but also land MHJ. Does it sound too good to be true? Well, yes, because it absolutely is. There is absolutely no chance that Monti can pull off this double heist. We’ve seen many permutations of that Vikings trade, so that’s entirely realistic, but would a) the Chargers pass on MHJ and trade down 6 spots, and b) not insist on either #23 or #27? I don’t think so. I’d love to live in whatever world Brugler is living in, but it’s not this one. That said, if this scenario were to come to pass, I think I’d probably wind up breaking my flatscreen anyway from celebrating too hard—I mean, we also get DeJean and Chop! It’s probably time to upgrade my flatscreen anyway. I just hope I have to replace it because this happens, not because we trade down TWENTY-FOUR(!) spots with the Bills.

Final Thoughts

We almost certainly won’t know what Monti will do until the Cardinals are on the clock next week. There’s zero reason for Monti to make a pre-draft trade without knowing who is off the board—and remember, there are still mocks out there that have MHJ going before #4. That’s still a very real possibility. But this promises to be one of the most fascinating drafts of all-time no matter what.

Your turn, RotBers. What do you think of the trade scenarios above? Who is still holding our hope for MHJ? We’ve got TWO polls for you below, then say your piece in the comments section.