Cardinals Announce 16 UDFA Additions
The Cardinals supplemented their six-man draft class today by agreeing to sign 16 undrafted free agents, as Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com details. General manager Steve Keim is optimistic about the potential impact of the team’s newest additions.
“We’re excited about it, because we still have a number of guys that we like, that we think have an opportunity to make this football team,” Keim said of the UDFAs. “You look at the past history of this organization, we’ve had guys make significant contributions, whether it’s been Lyle Sendlein or a Jaron Brown, they can be the difference of you winning football games or not. Not only do our coaches do a great job, our scouts, they work together and they call and they recruit these guys extremely well.”
Here’s the full list of the 16 UDFAs who agreed to sign in Arizona:
- RB Jared Baker (Arizona)
- WR Bobo Beathard (Appalachian State)
- CB Elie Bouka (Calgary)
- LS Kameron Canaday (Portland State)
- WR Amir Carlisle (Notre Dame)
- QB Jake Coker (Alabama) ($5K guarantee, per Tom Pelissero of USA Today)
- T Clay DeBord (Eastern Washington)
- LS Daniel Dillon (Campbell)
- S Matthias Farley (Notre Dame)
- CB Trevon Hartfield (SW Oklahoma State)
- WR Chris King (Duquesne)
- ILB Lamar Louis (LSU)
- T Givens Price (Nebraska)
- P Garrett Swanson (Fresno State)
- TE Hakeem Valles (Monmouth) ($7K signing bonus, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle)
- CB Ronald Zamort (Western Michigan)
NFC Rumors: Cards, Giants, Cravens, Lions, Vikings
A participant in the NFL draft since the inaugural selection gathering in 1936, the Giants did not take a lineman for the first time in team history this weekend. However, offensive line was a priority going into the draft, a source tells Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News, and Jack Conklin was a top-two choice on the Giants’ board before he went No. 8 to the Titans.
“There were discussions here or there,” Giants VP of player evaluation Marc Ross told media, including Vacchiano. “But nobody at the time who was the highest-ranked player on our board, or close to that.”
After cutting Will Beatty and Geoff Schwartz prior to the start of free agency, the Giants spent wildly to upgrade their defense but have left their offensive front unchanged. Marshall Newhouse and John Jerry remain atop the depth chart at right tackle and right guard, respectively. Ben McAdoo told media after the draft the right side of the Giants’ line is far from settled.
Here’s the latest from the NFC coming out of draft weekend.
- A hybrid linebacker/safety at USC, Su’a Cravens will begin his career with Washington at safety, Stephen Czarda writes for the team’s website. The 20-year-old Cravens started his career as a true freshman in 2013 as a strong safety before moving to an outside linebacker/safety hybrid role in the ensuing two seasons in Los Angeles. He compiled 10.5 career sacks and nine interceptions in three seasons.
- Thanks to former teammate Laremy Tunsil‘s unfortunate Thursday night, Robert Nkemdiche‘s name didn’t come up much during Round 1 until the Cardinals took the polarizing Ole Miss defensive lineman at No. 29. The Cardinals did their due diligence on the former No. 1 overall recruit, meeting with him on four occasions, Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic writes.
- Drafting for need has become a somewhat of a frowned-upon phrase in modern drafting, but the Cardinals were pleased their picks filled some of their depth chart’s key voids, Mike Jurecki of Fox Sports 910 reports (TwitLonger link). “This is not always the goal, because we said we were going to trust our board,” GM Steve Keim said, “but we filled needs with players we’re excited about. That’s not always the case when you walk away from the draft.” After Nkemdiche in the first and a second-round pick that went toward fortifying their pass rush in the Chandler Jones trade, Arizona selected two corners — Brandon Williams and Harlon Miller — and after losing Ted Larsen in the offseason selected a center in Evan Boehm.
- Under new GM Bob Quinn, the Lions are expected to give UDFAs base salary guarantees, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reports (on Twitter). This is a tactic the Lions haven’t used in the recent past, although Quinn’s former organization, the Patriots, as Birkett writes, do so often. Although the Lions haven’t unveiled their UDFA contingent yet, offensive lineman Chase Farris is expected to be among them. Birkett reports (via Twitter) the Ohio State product will have $10K of his base salary guaranteed in addition to a $10K signing bonus.
- The Vikings are expected to place Mackensie Alexander behind Captain Munnerlyn at slot corner, Matt Vensel of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Vensel offers that Alexander’s selection — the Vikings’ third cornerback taken in the top two rounds in the past four years, joining Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes — could bring about an end to Munnerlyn’s tenure in Minnesota after 2016. Munnerlyn was the Vikings’ top corner in 2015, according to Pro Football Focus. The 28-year-old corner is entering the final season of a three-year contract.
Draft Rumors: Tunsil, Ravens, Cardinals, Bears
As soon as the seventh round came to a close, NFL clubs immediately begin placing calls in attempts to sign undrafted free agents. While we will be sharing that information eventually, the sudden flurry of activity makes it difficult to track in real time. As such, we’ll wait until teams formally announce their UDFA signings before we post the news (along with accompanying signing bonuses).
Here’s the latest as the 2016 draft is in the rearview mirror…
- Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome denied a report that his club would have drafted Ole Miss offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil except for a social media posting that showed him smoking out of bong, tweets Jeff Zriebec of the Baltimore Sun. Baltimore selected fellow tackle Ronnie Stanley instead of Tunsil.
- Bruce Arians says the Cardinals had a grade on a quarterback in every round, but other teams picked the signal-callers in question before Arizona got the chance, as Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- The Steelers tried to trade back into the fifth round, says general manager Kevin Colbert, but no other clubs wanted to trade back, according to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Twitter link).
- Having lost Brad Nortman to the Jaguars over the offseason, Panthers GM Dave Gettleman says his team would have selected a punter in the seventh round had a draft-worthy one been available, reports David Newton of ESPN.com. Gettleman also relayed that he declined offers to trade up because Carolina is already missing a 2017 seventh-rounder and didn’t want to give up more capital (Twitter link via Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer).
- The Bears plan to target tight ends in undrafted free agency, GM Ryan Pace told Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link).
Cards Not Ruling Out Adding Veteran CB
- Head coach Bruce Arians doesn’t expect the Cardinals to have to sign another veteran cornerback to their roster, but said the team will “wait and see” if a move is required (Twitter link via Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com).
Draft Rumors: Day 2, Ragland, Ravens, Cowboys
The consensus from evaluators is that there are more talented players still available today than they had anticipated, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. That means that we could see a lot of trade activity take place early on in the second round. Rapoport adds (via Twitter) that the Browns, Titans, and Cowboys, who hold the first three picks of the second round, are all getting phone calls about possible trades.
Here are a few more draft updates and rumors, with the second round less than two hours from getting underway:
- Rand Getlin of NFL.com (Twitter link) surveyed 11 teams about linebacker Reggie Ragland‘s enlarged aorta and none of those clubs expressed concern. Ragland, he adds, is still expected to come off the board early on in tonight’s proceedings.
- Reports last night suggested that the Ravens and Cowboys discussed a trade involving the fourth and sixth overall picks, but Dallas balked because Baltimore would have selected running back Ezekiel Elliott. Per Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter link), the Ravens actually wanted to move up for defensive back Jalen Ramsey. However, Todd Archer of ESPN.com tweets that the Cowboys believed the Ravens were eyeing Elliott, and didn’t want to miss out on both Elliott and Ramsey by sliding down two spots.
- Agent Jimmy Sexton helped to stop Laremy Tunsil‘s slide on Thursday night by having his client call into war rooms and talk to team decision makers, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. In those conversations, Tunsil owned the past drug use shown in the video.
- Here’s a fun fact from Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter): Chip Kelly’s NFL teams have used 11 of their 23 picks on Pac-12 players, the most picks from a single conference by any head coach in that time. The 49ers, of course, used their two first-round picks last night on Oregon’s DeForest Buckner and Stanford guard Joshua Garnett.
- The Cardinals, Panthers, Falcons, and Seahawks are keeping their eyes peeled today for a backup quarterback, Ian Rapoport tweets.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Chiefs, Cardinals, Titans, Cowboys Trying To Trade up
The Chiefs, Cardinals, Titans, and Cowboys all have interest in trading up, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links). Kansas City and Arizona would be moving up, while Tennessee and Dallas would be trading back into the first round, having already selected once.
The Chiefs, Cardinals, and Cowboys could all conceivably have interest in acquiring a quarterback. Paxton Lynch just went off the board at No. 26, but Connor Cook and Christian Hackenberg have been rumored as first-round options. Indeed, a sorce tells Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star Telegram (Twitter link) that Dallas “was” trying to trade up, and Ed Werder of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter) that the Cowboys’ target was Lynch.
Pauline’s Latest: OTs, Steelers, Packers, Bucs
League insiders believe that as many as six offensive tackles could be selected in the first round of tonight’s draft, according to Tony Pauline of WalterFootball.com. Laremy Tunsil, Ronnie Stanley, Jack Conklin, and Taylor Decker are the obvious names, but Jason Spriggs, Le’Raven Clark, and Germain Ifedi are also candidates to go off the board tonight. The clubs that have put the most research into offensive tackles, per Pauline? The Colts, Packers, Seahawks, Broncos, Panthers, and Steelers.
Let’s check out the latest draft rumors, all courtesy of Pauline:
- Among the teams hoping to trade down tonight are the Falcons, Colts, Vikings, and Jets, according to Pauline. On the other side of the coin, the Cardinals, Panthers, and Broncos may like to trade up. Denver, presumably, would be targeting a quarterback in a trade-up scenario.
- The Steelers will consider a cornerback at pick No. 25, but they’ll also look at offensive tackles, writes Pauline. Pittsburgh returns Alejandro Villanueva at tackle, and signed Ryan Harris this offseason, but an upgrade wouldn’t be out of the question.
- The Packers might also like to find a new left tackle, says Pauline, as Green Bay would like to transition incumbent David Bakhtiari to left guard.
- If pass rusher Noah Spence is still available at the end of the first round, a club might trade back up in order to draft him, per Pauline. The Buccaneers are one team to watch in such a situation.
Cardinals Work Out Byron Marshall
- Oregon wide receiver Byron Marshall visited the Ravens and worked out for the Cardinals and Eagles, Wilson tweets. Marshall suffered an ankle injury that caused him to miss all but four games last season, but he is said to be healthy now. In 2014, Marshall cracked 1,000 receiving yards for the Ducks.
Michael Floyd Not Bothered By Trade Speculation
- For the second consecutive year, pre-draft trade rumors are swirling around Cardinals wide receiver Michael Floyd, who says he’s not worried about that talk at all. “I go into work, put my work in, watch film with my teammates and go about my day,” Floyd said of the trade speculation, per Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com.
Draft Rumors: Texans, Pats, Bears
The latest draft rumors from around the NFL:
- Texas A&M cornerback Brandon Williams worked out privately for Texans coach Bill O’Brien and also visited the Steelers, Patriots, and Bears, Wilson tweets. Williams bench pressed 225 pounds 18 times at the NFL scouting combine and is said to be turning heads with his athleticism. Wilson writes that the A&M product, who had 34 tackles and seven passes defended in 2015, is drawing third/fourth round grades from scouts.
- Michigan linebacker James Ross is drawing interest from the Colts, Raiders, Ravens, and Lions, Wilson tweets.
- Temple wide receiver Robby Anderson had visited the Packers, Browns, Bengals, Chiefs, and Raiders, Wilson tweets. Anderson caught a career-high 70 passes for 939 yards on his way to an all-conference selection in 2015. The 6’3″, 190-pound receiver ran a 4.28 second 40-yard-dash at his Pro Day.
- The Buccaneers and Chargers worked out Iowa State receiver Quenton Bundrage, according to Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net (on Twitter). Bundrage, who posted a 4.5 second 40-yard-dash time, finished his senior year with 41 receptions, 548 yards, and one touchdown as a senior. He missed the 2014 season with a knee injury.
- Utah State quarterback Chuckie Keeton is drawing late interest from the Texans, Vikings, and Cardinals, Wilson tweets.