Teams Are Reportedly Trying To Trade For The Cardinals' No. 3 Overall Pick And NOT Draft A Quarterback

We have officially reached the apex of NFL Draft silly season. Pro Football Network's Tony Pauline is pretty plugged-in, so whether this is a wild smokescreen or not, this isn't coming from some random source. It's no secret the Arizona Cardinals are trying to trade down from No. 3 overall, yet they could just stick there and take the best defensive player available. 

Can only imagine how busy that new regime is fielding calls less than week before the draft, exhaustively talking through every single scenario. Probably getting two hours of sleep per night. THE GRIND.

You can argue that left tackle is a premium position, but wow. Really? I can't remember the last time a team moved up into the top-three to take one. It's not like this isn't viewed as a particularly strong or deep class in the offensive trenches. There are maybe two prospects who'd be worthy of that third pick.

Northwestern's Peter Skoronski is thought of as someone who can play left tackle but could honestly perform at a Pro Bowl-caliber level at all five positions. Someone who's not an absolute slam-dunk tackle, though? Trading into the top-three for Skoronski seems rich in that context. There is the cliché about "it takes only one team to fall in love with a player", so if someone was targeting Skoronski, they'd for sure view him as a tackle.

Then you have Paris Johnson Jr. out of Ohio State. He started at right guard in 2021, moved to left tackle this past season and straight-up killed it protecting CJ Stroud's blind side. Johnson is my OT1 and ninth overall player. He's trained with Bengals legend Willie Anderson (green flag, obviously), and Johnson is also a pretty fucking standup guy who started his own foundation in high school that assists veterans and student athletes.

With so much upside to still explore on the gridiron and that kind of character, I mean…if I were trading up to third overall for an offensive tackle, I know who the hell I'd be taking. That'd be Paris Johnson Jr., thank you very much and good freaking night.

As for the teams who could be on the move to No. 3, I'd be hesitant to give up a ton to catapult up the order. The Titans have been a pass-blocking tire fire the past two seasons in front of Ryan Tannehill. They have the 11th pick. A lot of folks think they'll trade up for a quarterback if anything. Perhaps not! Maybe Mike Vrabel wants to get those trenches in order.

The Bears already gained assets by trading the first pick to Carolina. Offensive line is a priority for them. I don't think they'd need to move up from No. 9. One of Johnson or Skoronski is likely to be there for them. I guess if the Bucs wanted to put someone at left tackle and keep Tristan Wirfs at right tackle, they could do it. But to jump from the 19th pick to third would be a prohibitive cost. They've been in win-now mode for years. Not so much in 2023, or so it'd seem.

For any team to pull this off beyond the Titans' slot at 11, you'd have to consider throwing in a star player as part of the deal. Kind of like how the Panthers did by sending wide receiver DJ Moore to Chicago. You also have to factor in how far back the Cardinals would be willing to move. Hence the limited selection of trade partners.

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Last one: How about the Pittsburgh Steelers? They have some dude named Dan Moore Jr. penciled in at left tackle. Not even going to pretend to know who that is. Maybe Pittsburgh could package the 17th pick, a 2024 first-rounder and sell high on Alex Highsmith, who's off a 14.5-sack season and entering a contract year. Arizona needs pass rush help off the edge in the worst way. The Steelers could get by on TJ Watt's dominance and find a cheaper-down-the-road Highsmith replacement opposite Watt in this draft with the 32nd pick. Perhaps LSU's BJ Ojulari? Did a quick run on the PFF mock simulator and those moves worked. Don't shoot the messenger.

I have fun speculating about all this sort of stuff. Very easy to see how this rumor doesn't pan out. 

That said, let's read some more of the pre-draft tea leaves to lend some more credibility to this particular rumor. Schefter has been trying to tell everyone who'll listen that the top of this draft — speculated for a while to be potentially the first 1-2-3-4 run of QBs in history — is not going to go the way anyone thinks:

I also stumbled upon this tidbit from NFL Network's Bucky Brooks:

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Cheah and I nailed the first seven picks of the 2022 draft in our final mocks. This year appears to be so bonkers and unpredictable that I feel like I might go 1-for-32 31, with the only certainty seemingly Bryce Young going No. 1 to Carolina.

When I first saw the rumor from Pauline about teams angling to trade up for an o-lineman, I was like, "YEAH RIGHT. BULLSHIT. SMOKESCREEN SZN." Taking into account what Schefter and Brooks have recently said, I can be lulled into believing just about anything.

To be clear and to reiterate, so many teams are bullshitting right now. Feigning interest in certain prospects. Attempting to character assassinate others. Gotta say though, this would serve as one of the most interesting, unexpected plot twists I've ever seen in the NFL Draft if some team jumps the line to No. 3 and takes Skoronski or Johnson.

Bring it on. Inject this chaos into my bloodstream through my eyeballs. Can't wait for the NFL Draft.

Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok