April 3, 2026, 6:08 p.m. MT<\/p>\n
The NFL draft is later this month, and the Arizona Cardinals<\/a> are scheduled currently to select once each round. With seven selections, they won’t be able to address every position, but they should definitely focus on some positions.<\/p>\n But what is their need level for the draft at each position?<\/p>\n We recently broke down the need level at each position (except for specialists) and where in the draft they should begin to be a priority.<\/p>\n Is it in Round 1? Is it on Day 2? What about Day 3?<\/p>\n Each position is listed below.<\/p>\n Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a>Positional priority\/needs for Cardinals in 2026 draftQuarterback<\/a>: The Cardinals need a top-10 talent at quarterback, but it doesn’t make sense in 2026Running back<\/a>: They don’t need to worry about running back. A priority free agent should be enough, but a Day 3 running back would be fine.Wide receiver<\/a>: They could add a receiver. Ideally, they can get someone on Day 3 to add to their depth, as none of their other recent young receivers have developed much. Perhaps Round 3, but probably Day 3.Tight end<\/a>: Realistically, Day 3 is a possibility, but they could fill that potential need with an undrafted free agent.Offensive tackle<\/a>: Rounds 1-2 would be preferred. They have been projected to take a tackle in many mock drafts with the third overall pick. If they take one third overall or with their second-round selection, fans will feel pretty solid about the position.Guard\/Center<\/a>: Round 3 or Day 3. They have other needs for the first or second rounds. Any time after that would make sense.Defensive line<\/a>: Ideally, Round 3 or later. They can’t keep throwing assets at the position without a payoff.EDGE\/OLB<\/a>: Critical! This is a top-of-the-draft need, especially with the prospects available third overall. It should be a Round 1 priority. Round 2 priority is barely acceptable.Inside linebacker<\/a>: Round 3 or later. Inside linebacker isn’t a premium position and they have players they like already.Cornerback<\/a>: Low priority, although you can’t have too many guys who can cover, so anywhere from Round 3 and beyond wouldn’t be terrible.Safety<\/a>: Low priority, probably Day 3, although the right guy could be in Round 3.<\/p>\n Get more Cardinals<\/a> and NFL coverage from Cards<\/a> Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Apple podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 3, 2026, 6:08 p.m. MT The NFL draft is later this month, and the Arizona Cardinals are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2078],"tags":[95878,375,390,2604,1327,7,6,95973,95974,95882,95890,95896,95888,95899,96008,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-852849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-cardinals","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-arizona-cardinals","11":"tag-arizonacardinals","12":"tag-cardinals","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflcardinals","16":"tag-sstsncardinals","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagarizona-cardinals","19":"tag-tagnational-sports","20":"tag-tagnfl","21":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","22":"tag-tagsmg-listicle","23":"tag-tagsports-news","24":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116345145365946557","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852849","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=852849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}