This was written by Mark on MVN.com 

If there is one thing you can count on with the Arizona Cardinals each year is that they will almost always draft for need on most of their picks and not go with the best player available in the early rounds. They tend to reverse trends in the later rounds and start picking based on best player or scout recommendations, which is why you often see them strike out on their high picks but have some very good mid round talent that ends up playing. If only they would hold to the best player approach for all seven rounds!

Anyways, leading up to the draft now that the Larry Fitzgerald contract is resolved and free agency shopping has pretty much come and gone, it’s time to look at the holes in the roster and use those as clues as to where the team might be headed in the bargain shopping phase of free agency and then in the draft.

1. Corner back and secondary. The club has made clear through several interviews and media outlets locally that they intend to resign Matt Ware and Oliver Celestin once the Fitzgerald contract is approved by the league office and they have the cap room. Both are key special teams players and as last season showed they can step in and provide depth at safety, even though the drop off is pretty steep from the starters. The move of Antrel Rolle to free safety and the return of Aaron Francisco and Adrian Wilson now creates what could potentially become one of the strongest groups of safeties in the NFL. If only the situation at corner back was so rosy! With Eric Green returning from injury and a solid 07, coupled with Rod Hood’s productive year the Cardinals have decent starting cornerbacks. No all pro’s for sure but neither did the NY Giants. The issue is there is zero depth, particularly with Rolle moving to FS. This team absolutely must draft at least two CB prospects in my opinion and look to make a bargain acquisition in the late stages of free agency to find someone to challenge Ralph Brown for the nickel or dime CB position. Look for the Cardinals to use at least two picks this year on CB prospects in what is shaping up as a deep, but not superior, crop of draftable corners.

2. Defensive line. The team continues to build depth in it’s front seven but as the NY Giants showed this year, you can’t have enough premier D linemen to stuff the run and pressure quarterbacks. A great DL makes average corner backs look pretty good. The Cardinals are set at Nose tackle with Gabe Watson and Alan Branch manning the position. I’m hoping Branch makes the same kind of strides that Watson did in year two and that they can form a dynamic and tireless push up the middle of the line. At the under tackle you have Pro-Bowl Darnell Dockett hitting his prime and the surprisingly solid Rodney Bailey backing him up, creating another solid tandem but if Dockett goes down there is going to be a big drop off here. At the LDE position the team gave a tender offer to the Antonio Smith and at the RDE slot they reworked Bert Berry’s contract and signed Travis LaBoy to most likely start in front of Berry. However, the depth is exceptionally thin at DE with only Joe Tafoya, a solid journeyman type, to be possibly resigned so I would look for the team to jump all over Phillip Merling or Derrick Harvey if they some how drop to the 16th slot in the first round. As last season showed this team is exceptionally thin and just above average at DE and they need a substantial upgrade in talent and speed.

3. Linebacker. While the team locked up Gerald Hayes last year and put the franchise tag on Karlos Dansby, this is another area that is solid at the starting position’s but has a huge drop off in talent once the starters are out. The SLB will be manned by Chike Okefor who was poised for a huge season under the new defensive scheme, but who lost the entire season due to injury. His injury opened the door for Calvin Pace to show his stuff, but I really think that in this scheme that Chike is going to be a monster. MLB is held down by Hayes and the WLB is going to be the home for potential pro-bowler Karlos Dansby. The problem becomes there is almost zero depth and talent behind these three and the team lost out on the services of Brandon Chillar due to the Fitzgerald contract so they are now going to be looking for a versatile LB in the draft as well as another vet to provide some depth and experience. Watch for a top five rounds pick at the linebacker position as well as one more signing as this team is exceptionally vulnerable if any of the three starters goes down to injury.

4. Offensive tackle. The addition of Levi Brown and the solid play of Mike Gandy gives the Cardinals a decent tandem. Elton Brown demonstrated that both he and Reggie Wells can move to tackle in a pinch, but I don’t think anyone wants to see either of them as our starters at tackle for any length of time. The Cardinals desperately need another young stud tackle to develop, particularly with Oliver Ross being cut and few if any prospects at the position on the roster. If a potential franchise LT slips to the 16th slot, such as Chris Williams of Vanderbilt I think the Cardinals would be crazy to pass on him. They are a torn ACL from total chaos at the tackle spot and even if they don’t get a guy like Williams at 16 you can count on them grabbing a prospect in rounds 3 through 6 on draft day.

5. Running back. I personally don’t think it’s a huge area of need as Edgerrin James is one of the most durable and reliable running backs in the NFL. Sure they would like to add a break away change of pace back, but thats a result of J.J. Arrington never panning out as a second round pick because he should be filling that role but he just has never gotten it done. I see the RB spot as one where you look for a mid to late round steal to put in the mix so you can release Arrington or Shipp and put some fresh legs in there to back up edge. I definitely don’t see the team taking a high pick at RB but in the late third to sixth round I would expect them to take advantage of an incredibly deep group of running backs to find a prospect here. As mentioned before I think Ryan Torrain is going to be the steal of the mid round and I’m hoping the Cardinals grab him.

6. Wide receiver. While set at the starting slot I listened to a radio interview with OC Todd Haley two days ago when he talked about who the guys are that could fill the third and fourth receiver slots for this team now that Bryant Johnson has left via free agency. I get the impression this staff really likes the potential of Jereme Urban and that Steve Breaston has made real strides in his rookie year. However, I will be shocked if the Cardinals don’t make a mid to late round pick at WR to add a slot receiver or some real speed to the mix. The big risk of having so much money tied up in Fitz and Boldin is if they go down to injury you don’t have much money to spend on depth to back them up, so you better find some cheap free agents or rookies to fill that void. Watch for at least one pick to be used at WR.

Well, that pretty much sum’s up the team needs. They are getting very strong up the middle on both sides of the line, at MBL and safety and have the key skill players at QB, WR and RB to compete. This is going to be a draft that builds depth, upgrades the defensive line, CB and pass rush and hopes to find a solid RB. Who those players will be and where they take them is always the intrigue.

Once again i’ll make my prediction that this staff will want to build the lines first so you can look for Chris Williams the OT from Vandy, Phillip Merling the DE from Clemson or Derrick Harvey the DE from Florida to be the picks for the Cardinals depending on who is there when they get to the 16th slot.

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