{"id":689869,"date":"2026-01-19T23:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T23:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/689869\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T23:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T23:50:13","slug":"cardinals-nfl-draft-prospects-to-watch-in-the-miami-vs-indiana-cfp-championship-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/689869\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinals NFL Draft prospects to watch in the Miami vs. Indiana CFP Championship Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Arizona Cardinals don\u2019t have a head coach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">That doesn\u2019t matter, we can still dream about the 2026 NFL Draft, and tonight, we see some of the best players, and potentially best fits for the Arizona Cardinals, even if we don\u2019t know who the head coach is.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Fernando Mendoza, QB &#8211; Indiana<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">You would have to assume any new head coach would like to add a new quarterback, and while it is highly, highly unlikely the Cardinals have a bite at the Mendoza apple, we still have to acknowledge his presence as the Heisman winner and likely first pick in the 2026 NFL Draft\u2026 If he declares.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Rueben Bain Jr., Edge &#8211; Miami<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">While the Cardinals have heavily invested in the defense, they have not added a complete game changer yet. Bain could be that coming off the edge. And while no one wants to talk about the third overall pick in terms of \u201cbust\u201d his floor is a six sack a year guy who is elite against the run. If he reaches his ceiling, we could be talking an All Pro type of player.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Francis Mauigoa, OT &#8211; Miami<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Maybe the one player all Cardinals fans can agree on if the draft falls Mendoza\/Bain at 1 and 2. Mauigoa is a monster and has been everything and more for the Hurricanes offensive line. Mauigoa is only 20 years old and has already started over 40 games in his collegiate career, he is as blue chip as they come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">While there are plenty more names, those are likely the only three good enough to be picked at third overall, but that doesn\u2019t mean there are not a dozen or so more players that will be drafted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Arizona Cardinals don\u2019t have a head coach. That doesn\u2019t matter, we can still dream about the 2026&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2078],"tags":[375,390,85477,2757,2604,1327,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-689869","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-discussion","11":"tag-arizona-cardinals-draft","12":"tag-arizonacardinals","13":"tag-cardinals","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115924449915217047","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689869","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=689869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}