Is Will Anderson to Cardinals a Perfect Match?
We're now less than a month away from the 2023 NFL Draft, and the Arizona Cardinals have what many believe to be a golden ticket.
After the Carolina Panthers and Houston Texans presumably take quarterbacks at picks 1 and 2, the Cardinals sit with the third overall pick amid two strong options:
Option 1: Stay put, and take your choice of elite draft talent outside of the quarterback position.
Option 2: Take advantage of a team wanting a quarterback, move down and pick up additional draft capital.
While the rumor mill will be hot and heavy these next four weeks, one player the Cardinals have consistently been linked with is Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson.
Anderson projects as one of - if not the best - edge prospects coming out. He's been labeled as "can't miss" and for a Cardinals team that's lost over half of their QB sack numbers from last year thanks to departures of J.J. Watt and Zach Allen, the Cardinals could kill two birds with one stone in addressing a need and drafting the best player available with Anderson there.
Is Anderson the perfect fit for Arizona? Pro Football Focus believes so, especially after a lackluster free agency period.
"The Cardinals didn’t spend much in free agency this year. They brought in linebacker Kyzir White, kicker Matt Prater and edge rusher L.J. Collier, but on cheaper deals. The bigger deal was them losing both defensive lineman Zach Allen and cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. And with defensive lineman J.J. Watt retiring, their defensive line needs new talent in a major way," said Trevor Sikkema.
"With 146 total pressures and 28 sacks over the past two seasons, Anderson should be very high on the Cardinals' board, if not their No. 1 overall player."
Anderson himself said he would be excited to play for the Cardinals when speaking with media at the 2023 NFL Combine.
"You can see what the coach [Jonathan Gannon] did at Philadelphia. He had his guys on the edge going, that's something that I really like: Get on the edge and go, so I'm very excited about that," said Anderson.
It's a dream fit, but will the Cardinals stick around to take him?
Sources tell All Cardinals the team is trading down, but it's unknown at this time exactly where Arizona intends to land. They could very well move back to No. 4 with the Indianapolis Colts and still take Anderson, but anything outside of that pick is heavily assuming he goes to the Seattle Seahawks at No. 5.
Further, the Cardinals may like Texas Tech edge rusher Tyree Wilson a lot as well. Wilson is a projected top ten pick and NFL Draft insider Daniel Jeremiah (who had the Jacksonville Jaguars taking Travon Walker last season) pegged Wilson to Arizona in one of his earlier mock drafts.
Anderson would be a strong fit for the Cardinals with the ability to help turn the franchise around defensively. However, the need to fill other holes around the roster is too tempting to stay put.
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