GLENDALE — So, you think you know what the Cardinals are going to do with the first pick when the NFL draft gets underway on Thursday at 5 p.m.?
Not even the team’s best player has a clue, and no, Larry Fitzgerald wasn’t asked by team president Michael Bidwill, general manager Steve Keim or head coach Kliff Kingsbury for his opinion on what they should do at No. 1.
“That’s like an executive chef at a restaurant asking a busboy what he thinks of the steaks,” Fitzgerald told Arizona Sports 98.7-FM earlier this week. “They don’t care what our opinion is, just clean the table, you know? That’s what we are as players.”
The consensus among NFL insiders seems to be that the Cardinals will spend their first No. 1 overall pick since 1958 on former Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray, thus becoming the first team since the salary cap was introduced in 1994 to select a quarterback in the first round of the draft in consecutive years. The last team to draft quarterbacks in the first round in back-to-back years was the Baltimore Colts in 1982-83.
Last year, the Cardinals traded a third- and fifth-round pick to the Raiders to move up five spots to select Josh Rosen out of UCLA with the 10th overall pick. But if the Cardinals keep the No. 1 pick and use it on Murray, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner who accounted for 54 touchdowns last season for the Sooners, Rosen could soon be on his way out.
The Cardinals could try to deal him for a first-round pick or some sort of trade package that provides them with extra draft capital in addition to the 10 picks they already own in this draft, including the first pick in all seven rounds. But could they draft Murray No. 1 and keep Rosen, too?
That’s what former longtime NFL executive Mark Dominik thinks the Cardinals should do. He points out that the Cardinals have already dished out an $11 million signing bonus to Rosen, and they’re only on the hook this year for $570,000 in salary and an additional $700,898 roster bonus.
“The actual cash to keep Rosen on the team is less than $1.3 million as your backup quarterback, if that’s what he becomes,” said Dominik, who spent 19 years with the Buccaneers as a pro personnel man, scout and general manager. “So, I’m anti-trading Josh Rosen if I’m the Arizona Cardinals, because I just don’t think you’re getting enough and you still aren’t certain.
“I’m pro drafting Kyler Murray. I would let them compete and, it is what it is. I don’t think you have to have Kyler Murray to run Kliff Kingsbury’s offense at all. I think it’s a nice benefit for what he brings. I would take him, but I would be in zero rush to trade Josh Rosen. And I would wait even a year if I needed to.”
Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray might be the overall No. 1 pick — by the Cardinals — but then what?
Former sports agent Joel Corry strongly advises against the Cardinals keeping both quarterbacks.
“You just don’t give up on a quarterback this quickly,” Corry said, but conceding if the Cardinals draft Murray they should jettison Rosen to the highest bidder because “what happens if (Rosen) actually outplays him? You’d have a split locker room.”
That’s what happened with the Cowboys in 1989 when Dallas not only drafted Troy Aikman out of UCLA with the No. 1 overall pick, but then selected quarterback Steve Walsh out of Miami (Fla.) a few months later with the second pick in the league’s supplemental draft.
“It was a disaster that whole first year. There were the Walsh guys and the Aikman guys, and that was just dysfunctional,” Corry said. “The whole thing created a rift initially between (coach) Jimmy (Johnson) and Aikman.”
Dallas eventually traded Walsh to the Saints for a first-, a second- and a third-round pick, and the Cowboys would go on to win three Super Bowls with Aikman at quarterback. But Dallas also had assembled superior talent around Aikman at multiple positions, especially playmakers, and that’s something the Cardinals desperately need.
That’s why they have said they are open to trading out of the top spot for multiple picks to further augment their roster. But if they do, they not only lose out on a potential game-changing, dual-threat option in Murray, they’d also likely forfeit the chance to take one of the top three-rated prospects available in Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa, Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and Kentucky outside linebacker Josh Allen.
It all depends how far they might be willing to trade down, if they do so at all.
“That’s the game you have to play,” said Keim, who will be running his seventh draft as the Cardinals’ GM. “You have to look at if you trade back, and what do you get for it, No. 1? And who are the players that are going to be in contention if you trade back that far versus taking the pick and the type of impact that player has on your organization? And that’s the million-dollar question.
“If it’s compensation you can’t pass up, and it’s the next three drafts of some of these teams, then you’d have to consider it.”
If it happens, the Cardinals would likely target a pass rusher or a disruptive influence on the defensive line, in addition to bulking up on the offensive line, the defensive secondary and seeking top talent at wide receiver and tight end.
One team that often has been mentioned as a potential trade partner is the Raiders, who draft fourth overall and have two other first-round picks this year (Nos. 24 and 27) in addition to two first-rounders in 2020. Keim has worked deals with the Raiders in the past and would love to get his hands on some of those prized picks.
It’s unclear, however, just how smitten coach Jon Gruden and new General Manager Mike Mayock are on Murray, who completed nearly 70 percent of his passes last season for 4,361 yards and 42 touchdowns in addition to rushing for 1,001 yards and 12 more scores. They have worked out Murray as well as former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, but Oakland could end up sticking with Derek Carr, who threw for a career-high 4,049 yards last year in his fifth NFL season.
Arizona might do the same with Rosen, who has impressed Kingsbury during team meetings and on-field workouts this week. Kingsbury called Rosen “a true pro,” citing the quarterback’s leadership skills, intelligence and multiple physical traits, reminding reporters, “He was a top-10 pick for a reason.”
Rosen seems to have the full support of the locker room, judging from comments made by teammates last season and in recent weeks. Second-year wide receiver Christian Kirk said he thinks Rosen is ready for a monster season in 2019, and Fitzgerald said he has developed a close relationship with the quarterback and doesn’t want to see him go.
“There’s a lot I like about Josh Rosen,” Fitzgerald said Monday. “I like him as a person. He’s a really fun person to be around. We have a lot of great conversations. He works his tail off every day, he’s inquisitive and he’s enthusiastic about being the best player he can be.
“The human element always comes into play. I’ve been Josh’s teammates for a year. I don’t know Bosa. I don’t know the D-lineman from Alabama. I don’t know Kyler Murray. Those guys walk by me on the street, I wouldn’t know who they were. It would be a first-time introduction. I have a relationship with Josh and everybody else does, so we’re all a little biased.”
Gil Brandt, the former longtime vice president of player personnel for the Cowboys, predicts Murray would be the perfect fit for Kingsbury’s offense.
“Kingsbury is familiar with this guy from having played against him and I know he’s under 6-foot tall, but I tell you, the guy has charisma, he has it, he’s a winner,” Brandt said on conference call. “He’s a guy you don’t think this of him, but he is pass first, run second. He does have the ability to scare you with the run, but he is a passer first.”
ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said he’s “99.9 percent” sure the Cardinals will draft Murray No. 1. His network colleague, Todd McShay, almost feels the same way.
“I wouldn’t go 99.9. I’d go closer to like 95.0, but what’s the difference?” McShay said. “I think it would be a surprise if he’s not the first overall pick, but we’ve seen surprises before.”
