Cardinals Must Walk This Line Carefully in NFL Draft

The strength of the 2025 NFL Draft lies in its depth of talent and wide range of options beyond the initial stars. The Arizona Cardinals are set to be beneficiaries of that fact at pick 16.

But some concerning news has come out of late regarding the health of a variety of prospects. In fact, oft-mocked players like Will Johnson have been notably flagged with injury concerns that might not have been there before.

With this in mind, the Cardinals will have to walk this line carefully going forward. Often, a prospect flagged by injury might still be a good fit for the team.

Does an injury concern necessarily invalidate a player’s draft stock, or their potential to develop into a future star player? No, absolutely not.

And the Cardinals haven’t always shied away from those types of players in the past. Notably, star slot CB Garrett Williams began his Cardinals tenure in rehab from a torn ACL.

DL Darius Robinson had injury concerns of his own, and was unfortunately held out unexpectedly due to a calf injury that took longer than might have been initially thought.

Clearly, GM Monti Ossenfort doesn’t see injury history as a reason to rule out players. In fact, it could even work in his favor, giving him a chance to select his guy at 16, or even trade down and still find a player like Johnson or Campbell.

But then there are other players like Josh Simmons. Simmons’ injury is a more severe, less-conventional type of injury, as the Ohio State OL tore his patellar tendon. Especially for a player of his size at his position, those can be career-limiters, or issues that continue to nag and show up as the wear and tear of a 17-game season takes hold.