Cardinals Snag Top OL in 2018 Re-Draft

The Arizona Cardinals weren't quite strong at nailing their first-round picks under GM Steve Keim, and the glaring example resides in the 2018 NFL Draft where the team moved up to get UCLA QB Josh Rosen.

Rosen quickly proved that he simply wasn't cut to be the guy in Arizona, so much to the point where the Cardinals went with quarterback Kyler Murray the very next year.

That ultimately proved to be the right call, though it's interesting to see who the Cardinals could have possibly landed with the power of hindsight.

In Bleacher Report's re-draft of the 2018 NFL Draft, Arizona lands current Philadelphia Eagles OL Jordan Mailata.

"No team in the NFL needs a mulligan for the 2018 draft more than the Arizona Cardinals. Josh Rosen was terrible under center, first-year head coach Steve Wilks looked overmatched, and the Redbirds went 3-13. Both Rosen and Wilks were gone in 2019," said B/R.

"That the Cardinals are using their opportunity to rewrite history to draft an offensive lineman who didn't even play college football is oddly fitting. Not only did Jordan Mailata not play college football, but when the former rugby standout tried out for the NFL, he only picked left tackle because he was familiar with the position from the movie The Blind Side.

"A seventh-round flier by the Eagles in 2018, the massive 6'8", 365-pounder didn't crack the lineup until 2020. But after starting 10 games that season, Mailata has been a fixture on the left side of the Eagles' line ever since.

"And it can be argued that he's better than Michael Oher ever was."

Before the selection of Paris Johnson Jr. this offseason, D.J. Humphries was the last OL pick in either Round 1/2 in Arizona.

With veterans likely on their way out, we could indeed see a youth movement in the trenches moving forward.

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