The Cardinals picked WR Andre Roberts out of the Citadel with the 88th overall pick (3rd round) of the NFL Draft.  Roberts is on the small side at 5′10″, 192 pounds but he runs a 4.49 40 which shows decent speed.  He played in 11 games (all starts) for the Citadel last season in which he caught 77 passes for 792 yards (10.3 avg) with 8 TD grabs.  Roberts stepped up against better competition in his time at the Citadel (vs. Clemson and North Carolina) easing the concern about him playing at such a small school.  Roberts played in 45 games (36 starts) in his four years at the Citadel and he caught 285 passes for 3,743 yards (13.1 avg) with 37 TD grabs.  Roberts will fit in with the Cardinals in the slot where he could help them this season as essentially the team’s #3 WR allowing Steve Breaston to go into the starting lineup to replace Anquan Boldin.  Roberts will also get the chance to win the punt return job in training camp.  This was another solid pick for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals have selected OLB Daryl Washington out of TCU with the 47th overall pick (2nd round) in the NFL Draft.  Washington is a tad small at 6′1″, 226 but he makes up for his lack of size with his athletic ability.  Washington is very fast and he has a non stop motor.  He can cover RBs and TE out of the backfield on passes and he gets into the opposing backfield quite often on blitzes.  Washington played in 13 games (all starts) for the Horned Frogs last season in which he made 109 tackles, 11 tackles for a loss, he had 2 sacks, broke up 1 pass and he had 3 interceptions.  In Washington’s four years at TCU he played in 50 games (15 starts) in which he had 222 tackles, 20.5 tackles for a loss, 5.5 sacks, he broke up 6 passes and he had 4 interceptions.  Washington played a lot of inside linebacker in college but because of his size he projects to the outside in the NFL.  I really like this pick for the Cardinals as Washington should be able to help the defense and special teams right away for them.

The Arizona Cardinals selected 6′2″, 329 pound DT Dan Williams out of Tennessee with the 26th pick of the first round of the NFL Draft.  Williams is the kind of lineman the Cardinals have been looking for as they need a guy to take on blockers to open things up for the linebackers to make more plays.  Williams played in 13 games (all starts) for the Volunteers last season and he had 70 tackles, 9 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks and he recovered 1 fumble.  In four years with Tennessee, Williams played in 45 games (32 starts) in which he had 138 tackles, 25 tackles for a loss, he had 7 sacks, batted down 1 pass and he recovered 1 fumble.  Don’t look for Williams to have big tackle totals in the pros but that doesn’t mean he won’t be a defensive asset as long as he demands a double team.

The Arizona Cardinals have been one of the busiest teams in the NFL this off-season which has been both good and bad.  This weekend it should be all good for the Cardinals who have 3 of the top 98 picks in the NFL Draft and 8 overall picks.  The Cardinals will likely be looking for help at OT, WR and CB this weekend.  With that in mind I think that likely targets will be CB Patrick Robinson, WR Dez Bryant, OT Bruce Campbell and OT Charles Brown. 

PROJECTED FIRST ROUND PICK:  CB, Nate Robinson, Florida State

The Cardinals have traded 29-year old WR Anquan Boldin and a 5th round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft to the Ravens for a 3rd and 4th round pick in the 2010 draft.  Boldin played in 15 games for the Cardinals last season and he caught 84 passes for 1,024 yards (12.2 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 12 yards (4.0 ypc) last season.  Boldin played in 95 games in his 7 years with the Cardinals in which he caught 586 passes for 7,520 yards (12.8 avg) with 44 TD grabs.  He also carried the ball 36 times for 209 yards (5.8 ypc) with 1 TD run with the Cardinals.  The Cardinals will be counting on their young receivers to step up with Boldin going on to the Ravens in 2010.