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The Arizona Cardinals feel like a team that could take a huge leap forward in the 2025 NFL season. Arizona was a surprisingly frisky team in 2024. They finished the regular season with an 8-9 record and were alive in the NFC West playoff hunt late into December. Unfortunately, the Cardinals blew their playoff chances in a Week 16 overtime loss to the Panthers.
So why does this inspire confidence for next season? The Cardinals are rising while every other team in their division seems to be falling apart.
The Rams are shopping Cooper Kupp and might even move on from Matthew Stafford. San Francisco crumbled during the 2024 season and their core of great players continues to age. Seattle is a solid team, but they are a few years away from being a truly dangerous team.
As a result, the Cardinals could become division champions next season if they make some smart additions this offseason.
Thankfully for Arizona, they have plenty of ammunition to make that a reality.
The Cardinals enter the offseason with roughly $71 million in cap space. Give credit to GM Monti Ossenfort for doing a great job with Arizona’s salary cap over the past few seasons. The Cardinals barely have any dead money on the books and can become big spenders over the next two offseasons.
Arizona also has six picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, including the 16th overall selection.
Which positions will the Cardinals prioritize with those picks?
Below we will explore which players the Cardinals could select in the 2025 NFL Draft according to the PFF mock draft simulator.
The Cardinals elect to add a pair of playmakers in this mock draft simulation.
Let’s highlight the picks before diving into each of them in more detail.
Arizona makes a big pick in the first round, spending another first-rounder on an Ohio State wide receiver. The Cardinals bring in Emeka Egbuka to reunite him with former teammate Marvin Harrison Jr.
Egbuka has incredible straight-line speed and is a refined route runner. His speed brings a different element for opposing defenses to account for, which could pair nicely with Harrison Jr. and tight end Trey McBride.
Receiver is not viewed as a huge need for Arizona, but I believe this is actually a really smart pick. Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson are the only Cardinals starters currently under contract. Greg Dortch and Zach Pascal are set to test free agency, and neither is important enough to bring back. Adding Egbuka would give the Cardinals a nice core to build around with himself, Harrison Jr., McBride, and Wilson as pass catchers. If you count RB Trey Benson among that group, it looks even better.
Monti Ossenfort must really like players...
