April 3, 2026, 9:57 p.m. MT

The Arizona Cardinals, when they had the third pick in the 2023 draft, rather than selecting pass rusher Will Anderson, they traded back and then back up to get an offensive lineman — tackle Paris Johnson. In a new mock draft from The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, the Cardinals do it again.

They trade back from the third overall pick, passing on a pass rusher, moving back to land an offensive lineman.

Cardinals trade with Cowboys

Feldman projects a trade with the Dallas Cowboys, giving them the third overall pick for the 12th pick and the 92nd pick in the draft, a third-rounder.

Trading back is very possibly something the Cardinals are willing to do, but there is no way the Cardinals move back to the 12th pick at that price.

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When they made the same move from No. 3 to No. 12 in a deal with the Houston Texans, the Cardinals received the 12 pick, the 33rd pick and the Texans’ selections in the first and third rounds of the following year’s draft.

But for the purposes of this mock draft, it does its job. It moves the Cardinals back for more picks.

Cardinals select O-lineman

With the 12th pick, the Cardinals last Georgie tackle Monroe Freeling.

With Mauigoa and Fano gone, Arizona goes with a tackle whose stock has risen throughout draft season. Freeling, who has almost 35-inch arms and almost 11-inch hands, clocked a 4.93 40 along with a 33 1/2-inch vertical and a 9-7 broad jump at the combine — all really impressive numbers for someone listed at 6-7 and 315 pounds. He did start for only one season at Georgia, at left tackle, but he is an intriguing talent.

“He looks like a giant tight end with the way he can move and bend,” said an SEC D-line coach. “He’s a very impressive big athlete. He’s still pretty raw and gets off-balance and isn’t great with his hands — at least he wasn’t when we played him — but all the tools seem to be there. He needs to keep getting stronger.”

While the Cardinals do need to improve at tackle, unless they get much more than what Feldman’s trade netted them, this would be a foolish move. They need pass rushers and would be passing on potentially great ones again.

Freeling could be great, but how much better will he be than the tackles they would have played without him compared to how much better a pass rusher would have been than the group of four players who combined for 5.5 sacks last season opposite of Josh Sweat?

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