Alright, that Bears loss was a thing of the past and the future is bright. But apparently Sports Illustrated’s Peter King doesn’t think so. Peter just came out with his NFL power rankings for 2008(click here for link). King ranked the Arizona Cardinals 21st out of the 32 teams in the NFL. I don’t know if I should be delighted or upset about this. 21st doesn’t sound that great, but when you compare it to Mel Kipers prediction that Arizona will be the worst team in the NFL, and to the 30th ranking King gave the Cardinals last year, It’s not that bad. When I saw King rank the Cardinals 30th last year I was livid. But I calmed down and remembered he doesn’t decide who wins the games. The Cards were able to finish 16th and prove Peter wrong and I believe they’ll do the same thing this season. Here’s King explaining why he doesn’t have Arizona ranked higher…

“Paul Zimmerman wanted me to put the Cards higher. But I don’t know who’s playing quarterback, nor how good that quarterback will be. I don’t know how much Edgerrin James has left coming off a 3.8-yards-per-carry season. I do know a defense that allowed a gaudy 399 points will be a little better because of the arrival of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie at corner. But every year for the past three or four, some wise man in the media (I think it was me two years ago) says, “This is Arizona’s year.” And in the last four of those Arizona years, the Cards have gone 6-10, 5-11, 5-11 and 8-8.”

I think King makes a legit argument, who knows how well Matt Leinart will play. He could live up to the hype and take the Cards to the playoffs, or he could completely bomb and be replaced by Kurt Warner mid way through the season. Matt’s really going to be the wild card this year. I know there’s going to be other question marks on the team, but it’s really going to come down to Leinart. I personally see the Cardinals in the top 15 even with the instability at quarterback. Arizona has their core players coming back from last season, plus a few additions to add some depth where they didn’t have it last year. I’m not so much worried about Edgerrin James as I am with the offensive line. I love what Russ Grimm did last year but they’re still not incredibly strong and deep across the line. Hopefully another year together will prove to be valuable.

I can see where Peter King is coming from and I think he was a little more fair with his prediction this season. But I’d have to disagree with old Pete and show my bias by putting Arizona in the top half of the league for the 2008 season. But what does it matter what him and I think, we’re not the ones that get to decide the outcome. Even though I’m usually right and he’s usually wrong. It’s true!

Mel Kiper, and I still can’t believe he is serious, PICKED THE CARDINALS!

Mel, sorry big guy, you’re a moron.

His comment was followed up by some nonsense about how “The Cardinals hadn’t taken care of the Matt Leinart situation” and failed to address the replacement of Edgerrin James. I almost had to check my clock to make sure I wasn’t dreaming because the panel just stared at him slack jawed and let him push this garbage out of his mouth. The implication was what? That they should have drafted a QB? Or taken Mendenhall when they desperately needed a CB?

Mel, I have no idea what you are talking about, neither does anyone who even remotely follows this team. This team is deep at QB, has a solid coaching staff, a rebuilt offensive and defensive line, three quality receivers and a very good secondary. What in the world would possess you to think that the Cardinals would end up with the WORST record in the NFL?

Someone please bottle and save this idiotic prediction so we can toss it back to Mel when the Cardinals finish 2009 above 500 and fighting for a playoff spot. I’m glad he makes a living doing what he does, because he obviously has no idea what is even remotely going on with the Cardinals and it was just an easy slam at an organization that probably doesn’t give him the inside scoop he needs to feed his draft publication.

What a dope.

This year saw them take the best rated player on their board at the position of maximum need or improvement for the team. Thats what solid, competitive teams do every year and it’s how you get consistently better from season to season. All the people grumbling about not landing a feature running back, they need to check the roster and realize we have one of the NFL’s all time rushing leaders in our backfield and he’s a highly productive and durable guy. The NEED for a running back wasn’t extreme and the team wisely focused elsewhere.

The themes were best player at position of need, build the lines on both sides of the ball but primarily the front seven on defense, and address areas where a key injury would dramatically impact the team.

The selection of Cromartie after all of the top quality DE’s and OT’s were gone made his selection a no brainer. He’s got huge upside potential and dramatically improves the secondary whether he starts or not. Just moving Ralph Brown down to 4th corner instead of third makes the depth better as that’s about what Ralph is. Solid guy, works hard but he needs to be your 4th guy, not your third if you want to be a championship team. If the Cardinals had another run of injuries at corner their lack of depth would have just killed them.

The selection of Calais Campbell was another great value pick. You just can’t find guys his size and with major college production outside of the first round usually. Just as they grabbed Alan Branch last year to shore up depth at NT, Campbell gives them a true 3-4 DE who can stuff the run and provide inside push on passing downs, thus making the edge guys even better. We had Joe Tafoya as our back up DE last year and despite his being a great guy and hard worker, how did that work out the last 4 games? Our pass rush vanished and Campbell gives us a serious back up.

The Early Doucet pick was again top value at an area everyone tends to over look. The Cardinals have seen Fitzgerald and Boldin miss serious time due to injury in each of the last three seasons. Nothing major but a few games here and there. The prospect of having Steve Breaston or Jamaica Rector line up as your third guy or move out to the number 2 spot would have been awful. Doucet is a pure football player who plays way faster then he times, who blocks and who makes big catches. What more could you want in a pick like this? The guy should have been a high second round selection and is one of the most pro ready guys coming out of college this year. Expect him to make a big impact early and give us top quality depth.

Kenny Iwebema’s pick originally surprised me, but once I took a look at his bio and the notes from people who actually have seen this guy play indicates he has solid potential and again upgrades an area we are incredibly thin at. Rodney Bailey was our back up DE in this slot and this guy is potentially a solid upgrade with upside. Again, you have a rotation DE to give Dockett some rest and protection if he get’s injured. This team is serious about upgrading the D-Line.

Tim Hightower is another intriguing pick. All football player, high production, tough and plays with a chip on his shoulder. He isn’t an Edge replacement, he’s a Shipp replacement. That means he gives us a short yardage, third down guy and someone who gives Edge a rest and keeps him fresh. Shipp is a great Cardinal and has over come a ton to stay in the league but lets face it the last few years he hasn’t been very productive and the staff doesn’t want to invest any more time in him.

Chris Harrington from Texas A&M is another guy who is all football player, highly productive, high character who will be looked at to replace Bert Berry either this year or next. He’s probably too small to be a DE in this defense but as an edge OLB in their hybrid he would back up Travis LaBoy.

Brandon Keith addressed the huge hole at back up OT on the current roster. Oliver Ross is gone and they need to develop some OT’s who can compete and provide depth, or at the very least make the practice squad and learn. Both Keith and some of the undrafted guys have a shot to stick if they can catch Russ Grimm’s eye and work hard.

At the end of the day it became obvious this staff realized their front seven from last year was getting old, was injury prone and had limited upside and way too much salary. The additions of Haggans, Stewart, Laboy, Campbell, Iwebema and Harrington is a warming shot to the incumbents to not take their jobs for granted and that this defense is still a work in progress, but that they want to get younger, bigger and deeper. The old saying is defense win’s championships and this staff has made a major commitment to the defensive side of the ball to get them from 8-8 to 11-5 this year. The depth on the O-Line makes me nervous, but if they can develop one or two tackles to go with the guys they already have they will have put a good, low cost O-Line in place that has depth provided by low round picks and free agents.

Not a bad haul. I give it a B+.

Keilen Dykes is a DT from West Virginia University. Dykes was first team all Big-East in 2006 and in 2007. His production went down a little bit in 2007 but that’s because he was being double teamed and schemed against. I’m surprised he wasn’t picked up by someone. This could be a nice back up especially since Gabe Watson is out with an injury. At his Pro Day, Dykes ran a 5.08 40 and did 33 bench reps. Keilen is 6′5″ 300 lbs. Nice pick up.

Bryan Robinson from Division III Wesley College was another pick up. Robinson is a Division III all American Defensive Tackle. Bryan is the Atlantic Central Football Conference’s all-time leader with 47 sacks and 92.5 tackles for loss. It looks like he could be another solid depth guy and potential edge rusher.

Offensive guard out of the University of Hawaii, Hercules Satele, who bench pressed 225 pounds 40 times at last month’s Pro Day, has also reached a deal with the Arizona Cardinals. This guys a monster, I’m excited to see what Russ Grimm can make out of him.

It looks like LSU linebacker Ali Highsmith was picked up by Arizona today. Highsmith was early on considered a first day draft pick. But after a slow 40 time at the combine, Ali’s draft stock dramatically dropped. I’m still very surprised Highsmith didn’t get drafted. I thought he’d go in the mid rounds especially after he redeemed himself by running a 4.7 at his Pro Day. Ali is a little small for an NFL linebacker (6-0, 230) so that didn’t help but he still was a First-Team All-American! He was a stud in college and produced in big games so you know he can play football. This could be a real steal to get him undrafted.

Penn State QB Anthony Morelli was another pick up by the Cardinals. I guess all I can say about this pick up is sure, why not? You never know who could be the next Kurt Warner right? Maybe they saw some encouraging things and maybe this could be a new back up.

I really like this particular pick up. Arizona signed massive 6-8 305 lbs OT, Thaddeus Colemen from Mississippi Valley State. Here’s a video of Colemen. Thaddeus is very raw having no position coach in college and basically working on his own. Russ Grimm is probably salivating over this guy. With a little practice we could see Colemen be a starting OT.

Some other signing I just received word about are

OT Carlton Medder, Florida- Can play both Guard and Tackle. Played on the O-line for a national championship team. Could be the next Lyle Sendlein who came from a similar situation.

FB Dionte Johnson, Ohio State- Could become a special teamer and a back up to Terrell Smith.

S Dennis Keyes, UCLA- Keyes led the Bruins in tackles with 115 tackles his senior year. He also had 3 INT’s one for a touchdown.

CB Marcus Brown, McNeese State- 4.39 40, 43.5 inch vertical. Was a Long Jumper on McNeese State’s track and field team and a lot of small college guys can really turn out to be gem’s if they can make the practice squad and develop.

DE Jason Banks, Grambling- don’t know much about him but he’s a very large person. 6-5 300 lbs.

OT Peter Clifford, Michigan State- 6 foot 7, 312 lbs. Another guy that could have been drafted but slid into the free agency list.

WR Lance Long, Mississippi State- Mel Kiper said, “Lance Long the big time burner at receiver coming out of Miss. State, does a great job at getting up over defenders and bringing the ball down.”

All of these guys have great potential. I look forward to seeing what they can do. I’m surprised Arizona has still not brought in a Punter. Maybe something will happen in the next few weeks with that. In all regards, a pretty solid group of free agents that keep up the concept of building this teams lines and depth.

Arizona Cardinal Draft Grade: B+

Let me explain why I give the Cardinals this grade. Arizona needed to fill needs at cornerback, defensive end, offensive line, running back, and wide receiver. They filled all those needs during the two days of the draft, so that’s one plus right there. But not only did Arizona fill their needs, they did it while taking the best player on the board with each pick. I’m a guy who loves when teams take the best player available, so that made me excited to see them not drafting just for need. I know some of you including myself may wonder a little bit about some of the decisions made, but I actually trust the Cardinals with most of these picks.

It was a very tough decision when it came down to Rashard Mendenhall and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the first round. I felt it was a can’t lose situation and was glad I wasn’t the guy making the pick. I think Mendenhall is going to be a great player, but I’ve been on the Cromartie bandwagon for a while now and I’ve felt he would be the best player for the Cardinals. So while some of you are wishing we had Mendenhall, I think you should look at the great upside and talent DRC adds to the Cardinals defense.

In the second round I think a lot of Cardinal fans were expecting a running back here since Arizona passed on one in the first round. Well Whisenhunt and Graves stuck to their board and took the best player available in 6′8 295lb DE, Calais Campbell. I do believe Campbell was the best player at this spot, many scouts thought he was going in the first round but he slid all the way to the Cardinals in the second and I think it was an easy pick for Arizona to make. The Cards needed a DE and got one in a big way(pun intended). This looks like a real steal in the second round.

By now everyone assumed the pick here in the 3rd round had to be an offensive linemen or running back. Well the Cardinals surprised a lot of people by once again taking the best player available in LSU WR, Early Doucet. Doucet was another guy that many originally had going in the first round, but because of his average 40 time he slipped all the way to the middle of the 3rd. It blows my mind that Early went this late in the draft. He’s a very similar player to Anquan Boldin, and anyone similar to Boldin I want on my team. I know a lot of fans including myself wanted to see DE Cliff Avril drafted here. That would have been nice but I can’t complain with Arizona taking the best player and improving the depth at wide receiver. Doucet really is a stud and I’m happy he’s a Cardinal.

The 4th round pick was a bit of a surprise. The Cardinals took 6′4″, 275lb DE from Iowa, Kenny Iwebema. Kenny was not rated high on most peoples boards but defensive line coach Ron Aiken has worked with Kenny back when he was a coach at Iowa. So hopefully the inside information on this pick pays off. Myself and many others were hoping for an OT or RB with this pick but I think we have to trust the Cardinals and hope they know what they’re doing. With a little work, it seems like Kenny could be a very solid player.

The 5th round pick was not a surprise because the Cardinals finally drafted a running back, but it was a surprise because of who they drafted. Arizona took RB from AA Richmond, Timothy Hightower. At first this pick seemed a little weird because all the talk was that Arizona wanted a speed back and Hightower is more of a bruiser. But after reading up and looking at more film on Tim, I started to like this pick. Hightower has good, in game speed and great hands for a big RB. He should be a very nice special teams guy and a good short down back. He’s not a blazing fast RB like Chris Johnson but I think I might like this guy.

The 6th round pick was surprising to me because the Cardinals selected another DE in 6′5″ 275lb Chris Harrington. Chris was second team All-Big 12 at Texas A&M in 2007 which is always a plus. From what I’ve seen Harrington is a tough dude with a good nose for the ball. I expect the Cardinals to look at Chris as more of a 3-4 OLB. I’d say this was another good pick from what I’ve seen.

In the 7th round the Cardinals realized they needed an offensive linemen and filled that need by picking the very large Brandon Keith. Keith is a 6′5″345lb OT from Northern Iowa. Brandon is of course very strong and very fast for his size, running just over 5 seconds in the 40 during his pro day. His technique needs a little work but that can be fixed by Russ Grimm. Keith will add much needed depth to the Cardinals offensive line. I really like this pick.

I can’t really complain about much, we’ll see over time how these picks turn out, but for the moment I’m feeling pretty good about everything. I think the Cardinals coaches can turn some of these guys into very good football players.

I’ve been on the Chris Harrington bandwagon for well over a month now and even with the prior selections of Calais Campbell and Kenny Iwebema the Cardinals, who clearly are reading my blog at this point, went and got one of my targeted picks in the DE from Texas A&M. His selection completes the transformation of the DE/OLB position on the Cardinals from one of weakness to one of strength and depth.

You can go back and look at my prior posts but Harrington is a 100% effort guy who plays when he’s hurt, is a leader and is perfect as a depth and rotation guy who might eventually turn into a starter in the NFL. What everyone needs to keep in mind is the team is looking at Antonio Smith becoming an unrestricted free agent next year and Dockett is looking for more money on his contract. If you don’t have depth and talent behind them you are held hostage by the player with no room to negotiate.

Harrington, in my read of his talent and the Cardinals hybrid scheme is probably going to be slotted behind Travis LaBoy and Bert Berry. Depending on how injuries and training camp go you could see further cuts given the depth that is being developed through this draft. The other great thing is you can see the team deciding to build the core of the team in the trenches and that is where games are won and lost.

Another solid selection here in round 6.

Everyone had been expecting and wanting the home run threat for a change of pace from Edge, but if you go back and look at last year their bigger issue was they really didn’t have a goal line/short yardage guy who could pound between the tackles, catch the ball out of the back field and give coach Whisenhunt the play action threat they needed. The fact is that the speed guys were gone early, the Cardinals had bigger needs on the defensive side of the football and in yet another solid move the team went with a Marcel Shipp replacement with Tim Hightower.

I would have liked to seen them grab an OT with this pick but I can certainly see the logic here. You save almost $1 million in cap space if Shipp is released, you gain a young set of legs on a power back and you still have the on going J.J. Arrington experiment to see if he ever gets over the hesitation and mistakes that keep him from being a true speed back for the team, which was what he was drafted for.

The proof will be in training camp but I again give this pick a solid grade of a B given what else was still on the board and the team’s needs. The staff clearly has decided who needs to be replaced off the current roster and if I were Joe Tafoya, Marcel Shipp, Jamacia Rector, Ahmad Merritt and even Bert Berry i’d not be signing any long term leases at the moment.

However, upon doing some research and digging this is clearly an ” inside the family ” type selection in that Cardinals defensive line coach Ron Aiken’s was formerly the guys position coach at Iowa and obviously holds this player in high regard. He’s a big, 6′ 4″, 275 lbs, quick DE who is very strong against the run and has shown some pass rushing ability early in his career. The more I look into his back ground and check out his history this is a potentially another solid depth pick to the area of greatest concern from last year the DL.

You can now line up Dockett, Watson and Smith in the 3-4 and you have Branch, Campbell and Iwebema as your depth guys. Thats a very solid rotation and good young depth, and with the rebuild of the OLB position through the additions of Hagans and Laboy the front seven is really stocked and highly competitive now. Add in Okefor and Berry to the mix and this might be the kind of front seven that allows them to compete for a play off run this year.

I love what they are doing with this draft in beefing up the defense and taking value.

What i’d like to see in the next three selections is another CB, and offensive Tackle and the running back. I just saw that the Bronco’s took my guy Ryan Torrain in the early stage of the fifth, so he’s off the board. Time to go back and see who is left. By the way he’s going to be a huge addition to the Broncos.

In my final mocks I had the Cardinals looking for a WR in this round, specifically Jerome Simpson from Coastal Carolina. However, that was based on the assumption that a player like Doucet would be long gone by now. Quite simply this is a steal at this point in the draft based on his college production, skills as a receiver and physical ability. The only thing anyone could pick at with this guy, and please remember most experts had him as a first round guy pre-combine, was a somewhat slow 40 for a premier receiver.

The Cardinals desperately needed a true number 3 receiver who wasn’t a project, ala Jereme Urban or Steve Breaston, and who could step up to the number two position if either Boldin or Fitzgerald go down with an injury. ( Something that has happened every season for the last three years at one time or another.) The Cardinals addressed an area of key concern and depth with a top quality talent and this is a great pick.

I hated to see Cliff Avaril passed over but the value pick here clearly was Doucet and you have to imagine the QB’s are smiling over at Cardinals camp this morning.

I know a lot of Cardinal fans were hoping Arizona would pick Rashard Mendenhall when he fell to them. I wouldn’t have been upset at all if they decided to go with the stud running back, but I really like Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. I’ve been saying the Cardinals will pick DRC for the last 4 months and I’ve felt he’s a freak talent that you can’t pass up. This improves the Cardinals secondary dramatically right away. I’m very pleased with this pick as you can tell, I know some of you might not be too happy because Mendenhall was there, but I really feel Cromartie is going to be the real deal.

Arizona’s second round pick was DE Calais Campbell from Miami. I love this pick. The speculation was Arizona would take a running back at this spot, but DE was a need and Calais Campbell was the best player available. Most scouts and analyst including myself thought Campbell would be drafted in the first round. So I definitely see this pick as a steal. Campbell is a massive 6 foot 8 and 295 pounds, most of which is muscle. He has good quickness and leverage for a guy his size, so nobody should worry too much about that.

Things went better than I thought they’d go. I’m very encouraged and excited to see what happens tomorrow for Day two.  Here’s a couple guys you should pay attention to for tomorrow…

•  Jamaal Charles, RB
• Cliff Avril, OLB
• Oniel Cousins, OT
• Charles Godfrey, CB
• Dan Connor, ILB
• Kevin Smith, RB
• Antwuan Molden,CB
• Justin King, CB
• Mario Manningham, WR
• Reggie Smith, CB
• Early Doucet, WR
• Jeremy Zuttah, OG
• Xavier Adibi, OLb