Draft day decision makers: Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals rely on General Manger Rod Graves as their draft day decision maker. Graves has been with the Cardinals since 1997, and this will be his 10th year calling the shots on draft day. Graves has been around the world of professional football since1982 when he was a regional scout for the Philadelphia Stars. He would go on to be the Director of Player Personnel with the Chicago Bears before finding his way to the Cardinals. He is a scout by reputation and experience.
In terms of draft success Graves has delivered a very mixed bag of results. In fact he tends to whiff on early round selections, but is very astute in making picks in the later rounds. In fact over the past four years we can argue that his best draft picks have come in the fourth round or later. His 2010 draft class has been pretty weak, but still has some potential.
In the last five years he has made 35 draft picks and 21 of them are still with the team. Of those 21 only one has made the Pro Bowl, and only 9 of them are starters. Of course only one of those 35 are currently out of the NFL, but they have delivered less then average impact especially for his team.
In particular Graves has done a poor job recently trying to find linebackers for his squad. At least two draft day mistakes at this position have forced this team to spend big money in free agency and this team still has needs at inside and outside linebackers. Simply but this team needs to do better on draft day to improve the year to year consistency of this club.
Related Links:
- Arizona Cardinals War Room
- Joshua Lobdell.com
