{"id":870257,"date":"2026-04-19T22:42:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/870257\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T22:42:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:42:41","slug":"the-biggest-cardinals-draft-question-nobody-is-talking-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/870257\/","title":{"rendered":"The Biggest Cardinals Draft Question Nobody is Talking About"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Arizona Cardinals have a number of questions surrounding their organization approaching the 2026 NFL Draft. <\/p>\n

The quarterback conversation<\/a> has taken center stage, and perhaps rightfully so after the team hasn’t found a replacement for Kyler Murray and Jacoby Brissett is looking for a raise. <\/p>\n

Arizona could also stand to use upgrades at positions such as edge rusher and offensive tackle early in draft festivities while chatter around taking a new running back<\/a> has also made its way into conversation. <\/p>\n

However, the arrival of new head coach Mike LaFleur brings a level of uncertainty both in terms of what the Cardinals will look like on the field, and also which prototypes of players will fit best under his watch as he installs Arizona’s offense this offseason. <\/p>\n

How Will Cardinals Identify Fits With New Offensive System?\"Arizona<\/p>\n

Mike LaFleur (head coach) answers questions during a news conference at the Arizona Cardinals training facility in Tempe on Feb. 18, 2026. | Mark Henle\/The Republic \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

LaFleur’s arrival to the desert with a new offense is somewhere in the middle of knowing what sort of system will be ran thanks to prior experience and being unaware of what exactly the schematics will look like. <\/p>\n

LaFleur spent prior time under offensive masterminds such as Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, two of the brightest minds in the league. There’s similarities between the two NFC West head coaches, though there’s also differences. <\/p>\n

The hope with LaFleur’s arrival to the Cardinals is combining the best of both offenses he worked under to create his own hybrid version of the attack. <\/p>\n

However, that’s just hope at this point in time. LaFleur is in the early stages of installation, though we’ll need an entire year’s worth of on-field data and film to see how his offense actually functions and operates. <\/p>\n

While that will surely help in future drafts, the Cardinals don’t quite have that knowledge at this point in time. <\/p>\n

So while LaFleur can project what his system will look like in Arizona, there’s also no proof nor pudding of what actually works and what doesn’t as he’s entering his first season as a combo head coach\/play-caller. <\/p>\n

Does that make scouting incoming draft players any more difficult? <\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s kind of the art of what college scouting is,” Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort said.<\/p>\n

“When we’re scouting free agency, you’re scouting \u2018apples to apples\u2019 so you’re watching guys play against NFL players. I think the art of college scouting is you’re taking guys from different levels of competition, coming from different schemes, coming from a different field\u2014a lot of things are different from college, and now you’re trying to project how that is going to look. Not only for our scheme like you’re referring to and how Mike wants to run things and how he wants things to run, but now you’re saying how is that going to work (from) the college game to the NFL game.<\/p>\n

“That’s always been a challenge of college scouting. That’s why every draft pick doesn’t always pan out and that’s why there’s a challenge to that. Mike and his staff have done a great job of laying out what is important to them in terms of how we want to play and the attributes that we’re looking for at different positions, and it’s been our job to try to find players that fit his vision of how we want to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The draft is always a crapshoot in terms of how players both fall on the board and how their careers unfold in the league, though the Cardinals do have a unique challenge with a first-time head coach in LaFleur in terms of assembling their puzzle. <\/p>\n

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