Cardinals Get Complete Makeover in 2023 Re-Draft

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals knocked their 2023 draft class out of the park, though re-drafts are always interesting to see where national media members believe teams could have done better.

ESPN recently went through and re-drafted the first two rounds of the 2023 NFL Draft, and Arizona's first two picks were indeed different.

After initially taking Paris Johnson Jr. in the first and BJ Ojulari in the second, here's what Arizona walked away with:

Round 1, Pick 3: Will Anderson Jr.

"The Cardinals are set at quarterback, and there isn't an elite offensive skill player worth taking this high, so the obvious choice -- with no trades in this re-draft -- would be to bolster a pass rush that was being rebuilt along with the rest of the roster. Drafting Anderson would give the Cardinals' defense a foundational player, someone who can disrupt games by himself. And pass rush was an area where Arizona needed consistency. The Cardinals finished with just 33 sacks, which ranked 30th in the league. No player on the team had more than six, so Anderson's seven sacks would've led the franchise. -- Josh Weinfuss

Round 2, Pick 34: Jayden Reed

"Reed would give the Cardinals the type of playmaking ability they needed from a wide receiver. He would be a stellar pass-catcher for Kyler Murray, or any of their other quarterbacks, and could have helped the Cardinals win an additional game or two. Reed finished with 793 yards and eight touchdowns on 64 catches, which would have been the most for any Cardinals receiver, but that number also likely would have been higher in Arizona because he would've become the go-to receiver as the season evolved." - Weinfuss

Our take: These are two tremendous picks that would have helped the Cardinals both this past season and in the years moving forward - though Arizona would undoubtedly move back, recoup draft ammo and snag Johnson again in the first. The future is high on Ojulari and his ceiling, too.

It's tough to be upset at either outcome.