GLENDALE, Ariz. — After trading away their second round pick in the deal that brought DeAndre Hopkins to the desert, the Cardinals made their first pick Friday in the third round, selecting offensive tackle Josh Jones 72nd overall.
Jones is a 6-foot-5, 320-pound tackle out of Houston.
Jones came into the 2020 NFL Draft highly regarded as a potential top-50 talent, but once again, the Cardinals scoop up a player later than they were projected to go.
Barring a trade, Arizona will pick next in the 4th round at No. 114 overall.
After that, the Cardinals have another fourth rounder at 131 overall, a sixth-round pick at 202 overall and a seventh-round pick at 222 overall.
Interestingly, Jones played high school basketball with Phoenix Suns forward Kelly Oubre Jr. at George Bush High School outside Houston.
In the first round on Thursday, the Cardinals selected Clemson linebacker Isaiah Simmons with the 8th pick in the draft.
The 6’4”, 240-pound linebacker is a swiss army knife in the defense with the ability to play multiple positions in different sets.
In his sophomore season, Simmons led Clemson in tackles on their way to a national championship with 89 total stops, nine tackles for loss and three forced fumbles. That got him on the national radar for his junior season, when he recorded 102 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, eight sacks, three interceptions and nine pass breakups, earning the Butkus Award for the nation’s top linebacker.
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Simmons joins a Cardinals defense that ranked dead last in total defense in 2019, despite sending two defenders to the Pro Bowl in Chandler Jones and Budda Baker.
The Cardinals have made several impact moves at defense during free agency, adding linebackers Devon Kennard and De'Vondre Campbell as well as defensive tackle Jordan Phillips.
