Is Top Pass Rush Prospect a Fit For Cardinals?

In a class as deep as the 2025 NFL Draft is, the are very few prospects who are true gambles. The Arizona Cardinals will have a plethora of suitable options available at 16 overall, but one draft prospect could be a high-risk, high-reward selection.

Texas A&M edge rusher Shemar Stewart is considered one of the most physically gifted prospects in this draft. Based on pure athleticism, explosiveness and overall physical skill, Stewart looks liek the definition of a freak athlete, with an extremely high ceiling.

But the sticking point with Stewart is quite obvious once one dives into his college numbers. He was durable, no doubt, playing 37 games over his three years of college football. There are no character concerns, nor is there a worrisome injury history.

So what's the issue? Stewart, while a proficient pass rusher overall, has very little in the way of raw productivity. In every year of college, he put forward just 1.5 sacks. He recorded only 65 tackles and 12 TFLs in those 37 games.

Are sacks everything? No, absolutely not. Stewart graded out as a pass rusher in above-average fashion. He posted a pass rush win rate of 12.4%, a significantly above-average, but admittedly not elite number.

But perhaps the most underrated aspect of his game is his run defense. Stewart received an excellent 88.2 run defense grade, something the Cardinals very desperately need to add to their defensive front, even with the additions of Josh Sweat, Dalvin Tomlinson and Calais Campbell.

So is Stewart a good fit? It's hard to truly say. The concerns over his lack of raw production are not invalid — those low numbers do provide a reasonable concern about his impact at the NFL level.

But head coach Jonathan Gannon has said maintained that getting to the quarterback and putting pressure on him is what is most important. The number in the sack column can be a positive, but sacks themselves aren't everything.

But Arizona is familiar with pass rushers who can get to the QB without bringing them down, and it affected them negatively in the past. Still, Stewart is 6-foot-6, 290 pounds and a combination of both speed and explosive power off the edge.

There's also a chance Stewart is gone by pick 16, but it does seem likely he'll be floating around that region, and could fall to the Cardinals. What they choose to do at 16 remains unknown, but it's hard to imagine that a player of Stewart's athleticism and motor won't at least find a decent enough role on an NFL team in 2025.