17. Arizona Cardinals - Nic Scourton, EDGE, Texas A&M
The Arizona Cardinals were once 6-4 and in first place in the NFC West. Oh, how the times have changed. They’re now 6-7 on the season and are clearly not a playoff-caliber team at this point. The Cards only won four games in 2023, and that felt like year one of this rebuild. They are clearly a better team than they were in 2023, so the franchise is trending in the right direction.
Arizona needs to simply add more talent, period. I believe they have the coaching down and the franchise QB down. Kyler Murray is a very good QB, and no franchise QB is perfect, so spare me your complaints of him.
The Cardinals draft Nic Scourton from Texas A&M in the first round of this 2025 NFL Mock Draft. Just adding more DL talent is probably going to be the top priority for Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort. I would not rule them out from competing for the NFC West in 2025 and beyond, actually.
The frustration with them having now lost three games in a row and losing their lead in the division is understandable, but this team is fine for the long-term.
18. Los Angeles Rams - Jalon Walker, LB, Georgia
To me, two areas on defense where the Los Angeles Rams will need to add talent will be at the inside linebacker position and in the secondary. The Rams could use a couple of young, talented cornerbacks. They could also use a stud ILB. They had one in Ernest Jones IV, but they traded him away, likely because they did not want to meet his contract demands.
I guess if they could come away with a stud LB prospect in Jalon Walker from Georgia, there isn’t any harm done here if they just reset their situation at the position. The Rams are now 8-6 on the season after their shaky 1-4 start.