{"id":671964,"date":"2026-01-12T17:46:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T17:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/671964\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T17:46:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T17:46:42","slug":"every-cardinals-fan-needs-to-watch-oregon-indiana-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/671964\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Cardinals fan needs to watch Oregon-Indiana tonight"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Arizona Cardinals own the third overall pick in this April\u2019s NFL draft. Who will they select? What positions are on their short list of the greatest needs? Will they go offense or defense?<\/p>\n

The third draft pick alone is a valuable asset for any ballclub. Last year, the Cleveland Browns owned the second overall pick, then traded it away to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who had a man crush on CB\/WR Travis Hunter out of Colorado. The Browns dropped from #2 to #5, then grabbed a defensive tackle because they couldn\u2019t stop the run, and also was given the Jaguars first round pick in 2026. So, now Cleveland has two first-round picks this year.<\/p>\n

RELATED: SB NATION MOCK DRAFT<\/a><\/p>\n

A young quarterback to groom, two offensive guards, one offensive tackle, and a linebacker are good starting spots.<\/p>\n

A young quarterback to groom you say? Just so happens in tonight\u2019s college football playoff game, the nation\u2019s projected Top-2 signalcallers are on full display in the Oregon versus Indiana contest in the Peach Bowl on ESPN with a kickoff at 7:30 p.m. (Eastern).<\/p>\n

The starter for the Indiana University Hoosiers is junior Fernando Mendoza (6\u2019-5\u201d, 225 pounds). For the University of Oregon Ducks? QB Dante Moore (6\u2019-3\u201d, 206 pounds). These two are ranked 1-2 as far as this year\u2019s quarterback group. And what makes it more intriguing is that both are ranked in the Top-5.<\/p>\n

And who needs a young quarterback? Who has a draft pick in the Top-5 of the first round? Get the connection?<\/p>\n

Both Mendoza and Moore will be front and center for all Cardinals fans.<\/p>\n

The Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets are picking 1-2 in the draft. Their rosters feature a veteran quarterback, and their thought process just may want to improve other areas and pass on the two young signalcallers. Then again, these two QBs may go with the first and second picks.<\/p>\n

And even if one or the other slips to the Cardinals\u2019 #3 slot, Arizona may pass as well and focus more on the offensive line. Then again, the front office just might shout, \u201cOooo, that\u2019s a Bingo!\u201d and take a quarterback.<\/p>\n

However, on Friday night, both of these young bucks will be on display for Cardinals fans to absorb.<\/p>\n

Here are the overall draft rankings from several NFL draft sites: <\/p>\n

Pro Football Focus: Mendoza #4, Moore #5<\/p>\n

NFL Draft Buzz: Moore #3, Mendoza #4<\/p>\n

Draft Countdown: Mendoza #1, Moore #3<\/p>\n

Tankathon: Mendoza #4, Moore #8<\/p>\n

DraftTek: Mendoza #1, Moore #9
Mock Draft Database: Mendoza #1, Moore #2<\/p>\n

USA Today: Mendoza #6, Moore #10<\/p>\n

Andy NFL: Mendoza #1, Moore #4<\/p>\n

Sports Illustrated: Mendoza #6, Moore #7<\/p>\n

CBS Sports: Mendoza #1, Moore #2<\/p>\n

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If you are a numbers person, here are some stats from this season (only) for both players:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

Average yards per completion: 13.2<\/p>\n

Completion percentage: 72.3%<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

Average yards per completion: 12.1<\/p>\n

Completion percentage: 72.9%<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Arizona Cardinals own the third overall pick in this April\u2019s NFL draft. Who will they select? What…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2078],"tags":[375,390,2757,2604,1327,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-671964","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-cardinals-draft","11":"tag-arizonacardinals","12":"tag-cardinals","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115883382423881283","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671964","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=671964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}