Comparing Cardinals’ and 49ers’ 2025 defensive draft picks

Both teams looked to bolster their defensive talent in the 2025 NFL Draft

Coming into the 2025 NFL Draft the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers had quite a few common needs on defense. Here are the 4 biggies:

• DT
• ED
• CB
• ILB
• S/STs gunner

Heading into the draft, what was daunting for the Cardinals was their disparity in draft picks in comparison to the 49ers —- 6 to 11.

To highlight this disparity, let’s take a look at Chad Reuter’s pre-draft 7-round mock on nfl.com to see what he was predicting for the Cardinals and 49ers:

Seven-round 2025 NFL mock draft: Patriots pick Ashton Jeanty in Round 1; Packers trade up

Round 1:

• 11. SF —- Will Johnson, CB, Michigan
• 16. ARI —- Kelvin Banks Jr., T, Texas

Round 2:

• 43. SF —- Donovan Jackson, G, Ohio St.
• 47. ARI —- Jaylin Lane, WR, Virginia Tech

Round 3:

• 75. SF —- Joshua Farmer, DT, Florida St.
• 78. ARI —- T.J. Sanders, DT, South Carolina
• 100. SF —- Denzel Burke, CB, Ohio St.

Round 4:

• 113. SF —- Kyle Williams, WR, Washington St.
• 115. ARI —- Jacob Parrish, CB, Kansas St.
• 138. SF —- Nick Martin, LB, Oklahoma St.

Round 5:

• 147. SF —- Luke Lachey, TE, Iowa
• 152. ARI —- Tyler Baron, ED, Miami
• 160. SF —- John Williams, T, Cincinnati

Round 7:

• 225. ARI —- Jay Higgins, LB, Iowa
• 227. SF —- Ahmed Hassanein, ED, Boise St.
• 249. SF —- Jacory Croskey-Merritt, RB, Arizona
• 252. SF —- Sebastain Valdez, DT, Washington

Commentary:

Obviously, Chad Reuter’s crystal ball turned out to be a snow globe for his 49ers and Cardinals picks. The most fascinating part is Reuter predicting the 49ers to take CB Will Johnosn at #11 and Denzel Burke at pick #100 and, as fate would have it, the Cardinals were able to pick Will Johnson at pick #47 and Denzel Burke at pick #174. Wow! Just wow!

The teams’ picks on defense:

49ers:

• 11. Mykel Williams, ED, Georgia
• 43. Alfred Collins, DT, Texas
• 75. Nick Martin, LB, Oklahoma St.
• 102. Upton Stout, CB, Western Kentucky
• 113. CJ West, DT, Indiana
• 160. Marques Sigle, S, Kansas St.

Cardinals:

• 16. Walter Nolen III, DT, Mississippi
• 47. Will Johnson, CB, Michigan
• 78. Jordan Burch, ED, Oregon
• 115. Cody Simon, LB, Ohio St.
• 174. Denzel Burke, CB, Ohio St.
• 225. Kitan Crawford, S, Nevada

Commentary:

• What’s astounding is the fact that despite the 49ers having almost twice the number of draft picks than the Cardinals heading into the draft, that the Cardinals would wind up taking as many defensive players (6) as the 49ers.
• Prior to the draft, a number of draft gurus were predicting that the 49ers at #11 were going to select DT Kenneth Grant of Michigan or DT Walter Nolen of Mississippi....