{"id":33848,"date":"2025-05-08T13:57:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T13:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/33848\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T13:57:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T13:57:25","slug":"the-athletics-brugler-mocks-edge-wr-to-cardinals-in-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/33848\/","title":{"rendered":"The Athletic’s Brugler mocks EDGE, WR to Cardinals in Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Arizona Cardinals hold the No. 16 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and could go a number of ways<\/a> in the middle of the first round.<\/p>\n

But in The Athletic draft analyst Dane Brugler\u2019s recent seven-round mock<\/a> released Tuesday, the Cardinals fortified their defense that much more with the addition of Georgia pass rusher Mykel Williams at No. 16 overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Brugler\u2019s analysis of Williams,<\/a> he described the Bulldogs product as a rusher that can do a bit of everything.<\/p>\n

Williams has a rare mix of bend and length for a pass rusher and can be a battering ram when he wants to be, but NFL teams want to see him develop finesse and more easily accessible counters in his rush attack. Though there are plenty of examples on tape of Williams maximizing his length and power advantages to push the pocket or set the edge, he needs to do it more consistently for quicker wins and block sheds. Overall, Williams is more toolsy than nuanced and needs to develop a more unified pass-rush plan. The individual traits (length, strength, explosiveness), promising toughness and football character, however, are reasons to bet on his upside. Similar in ways to Jason Pierre-Paul, he projects as an NFL starter on the edge.<\/p>\n

Williams is coming off his most productive season at Georgia, setting career marks in tackles for loss (nine) and sacks (five) across 12 games. He earned Second Team All-SEC selections in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n

Williams has been projected to land to the Cardinals 11 times in the Arizona Sports Mock Draft Tracker<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cardinals add a pass catcher in the second round of Brugler\u2019s mock draft<\/p>\n

After building up the defense in Round 1, Arizona turned its attention to the offense in Round 2 with the addition of Iowa State wide receiver Jaylin Noel at No. 47 overall.<\/p>\n

Noel is the eighth ranked wide receiver<\/a> in Brugler\u2019s positional rankings and gives the Cardinals a speedy option to pair alongside Marvin Harrison Jr.<\/p>\n

A sturdy and speedy athlete, Noel is smooth in and out of his breaks and plays with \u201cStick \u2019em\u201d hands to consistently secure throws away from his body. Despite not being much of a tackler-breaker, he has a pull-away gear (with or without the ball) that makes him a playmaker (eight catches of 50-plus yards over the last two seasons, third most in the FBS.)<\/p>\n

Noel is coming off a breakout campaign where he totaled 1,194 receiving yards (ninth in the nation) and eight touchdowns on 80 catches.<\/p>\n

A familiar face heads to the Cardinals in fifth round<\/p>\n

Later on in Brugler\u2019s mock draft, a familiar face made his way to the Cardinals in Arizona Wildcats running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt.<\/p>\n

Croskey-Merrit was the 2024 East-West Shrine Bowl most outstanding offensive player reminding scouts of the skills he has<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A slippery runner with explosive feet, Croskey-Merritt is capable of full-stride cuts without gearing down to toy with defenders. He runs with a \u201ccut to daylight\u201d mentality, which keeps his runs alive but also leads to wasted steps and extra hits. Overall, there is an unpredictability to his run style that keeps both defenders and his own coaches on the edge of their seat, but you\u2019ll live with the volatility because of his electric plant and burst to naturally string moves together and create chunk plays. He projects as an offense\u2019s change-of-pace weapon.<\/p>\n

Croskey-Merritt played in just one game with the Wildcats this past college season due to eligibility issues<\/a> that dated back to his redshirt season with Alabama State in 2019. The Wildcat running back had 13 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown in his lone game versus his former college team, New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Before transferring to Arizona, Croskey-Merritt had his breakout season with the Lobos, averaging 6.3 yards per carry on 189 attempts that went for 1,190 yards (23rd in the nation) on the ground and 17 touchdowns (5th in the nation).<\/p>\n

Dane Brugler\u2019s 7-round mock draft for Cardinals<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a full look at all six of Arizona\u2019s draft picks in Brugler\u2019s mock draft:<\/p>\n

Round 1 (No. 16 overall): Mykel Williams, Georgia EDGE rusher<\/p>\n

Round 2 (No. 47 overall): Jaylin Noel, Iowa State WR<\/p>\n

Round 3 (No. 78 overall): Ty Hamilton, Ohio State DT<\/p>\n

Round 4 (No. 115 overall): Emery Jones Jr., LSU OT\/G<\/p>\n

Round 5 (No. 152 overall): Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Arizona RB<\/p>\n

Round 7 (No. 225 overall): Francisco Mauigoa, Miami LB<\/p>\n

\t
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Arizona Cardinals hold the No. 16 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and could go a number…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2078],"tags":[375,390,1632,2604,1327,7,1631,6,1630],"class_list":{"0":"post-33848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-cardinals","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-arizona-cardinals","10":"tag-arizona-sports-now-on-98-7-fm","11":"tag-arizonacardinals","12":"tag-cardinals","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-home","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-phoenix-arizona-sports-news-phoenix-breaking-sports-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114472566451013972","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}