Arizona Cardinals

Arizona Cardinals 2016 draft class contributing nothing

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The current regime of the Arizona Cardinals has been successful in the draft room but this year’s class doesn’t look promising

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the Arizona Cardinals are a struggling football team. Everyone from the team to it’s fans to the league are wondering what has gone wrong.

One of the reasons for the slow start is that they’ve gotten zero production from their current draftees.

Since Steve Keim and Bruce Arians arrived in 2013 they’ve had rookies play well in each season until this one. Tyrann Mathieu, Andre Ellington, Deone Bucannon, John Brown, Markus Golden, David Johnson, Rodney Gunter and J.J.Nelson all contributed early.

The first-round pick, defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, is obviously the biggest disappointment. He failed to even dress for this past weekend’s game. He is nursing an ankle injury, but there’s also been reports that Nkemdiche’s been a bit slow learning the defense.

With no second-round pick the team had to wait until late in the third-round for their next selection. They then reached big-time, drafting cornerback Brandon Williams, who had only played the position for one season. He was converted from running back his senior year.

It was quite a gamble by the Cards, considering the fact that they were in dire need of a cornerback. He reportedly looked good enough in training camp to be anointed a starter. Unfortunately, he was burned badly in preseason games and the roasting continued against the New England Patriots in week one.

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Fourth-round pick Evan Boehm was brought in to possibly beat out A.Q.Shipley for the starting center job. Apparently he never was much of a threat. In hindsight, it may have been wishful thinking to think a fourth-rounder could start so soon.

Fifth-round safety Marqui Christian played well in the preseason but for some reason was released last week. He was claimed off of waivers by the division rival Los Angeles Rams.

The club had two sixth-round choices. Offensive lineman Cole Toner has yet to see any regular season action, not surprising considering the fact that he is a backup. And cornerback Harlan Miller failed to make the 53-man roster but was ultimately signed to the practice squad.

The fact that not one draft pick is making any kind of impact doesn’t say much for the scouting department. Hopefully, at least one of the picks will step up and help the team at some point this season. As it is now, the 2016 class has left the front office with nothing but egg on their faces.

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