Denver Broncos draft rumors: Cardinals most likely to move up
Could the Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos come together on a draft day trade? The two have had talks, and Arizona might be the most aggressive…
The Denver Broncos may be the most likely team of any in the top 10 to move down in a trade with another team wanting to move up for a quarterback, and the Arizona Cardinals seem to be getting aggressive on the trade front.
On Monday, it was reported that the Cardinals were among the teams that had called the Broncos about potentially moving up in the 2018 NFL Draft, likely just preliminary talks. But those talks may only be heating up as we get closer to the draft’s first round on Thursday.
According to Ian Rapoport, the Cardinals seem to be the team most interested in a move up at this point.
.@RapSheet: "The Arizona Cardinals may be the team to watch at this point. They certainly seem like they’re making the most phone calls about possibly moving up for a quarterback ... it’s safe to assume that 5 or 6 could be potential slots to trade for a quarterback."
— Shane Dale (@ShaneDaleAZ) April 24, 2018
I don’t think anything is going to happen until the actual day of the draft, perhaps not until the Broncos are on the clock at five overall.
At this point, we have no idea what the Broncos want to do in the first round of the draft, even if they stay at five overall, much less moving down to 15.
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For what it’s worth, Peter King of MMQB recently put together a mock draft where the Cardinals traded with the Broncos at five overall to get Baker Mayfield, which seems a little ridiculous given how badly the Broncos seem to want Mayfield.
That being said, King may have the right scenario and the wrong players involved. It makes sense for the Cardinals to move up for a quarterback, but it’s going to cost them a lot of draft capital to do so.
The Cardinals, at worst, would have to offer their first and second picks this year, along with a first rounder next year as a starting point. Unlike the Buffalo Bills, the Cardinals don’t have a variety of assets to offer in this year’s draft, but given they may be looking at a third or fourth place finish at best this coming season, getting their 2019 first round pick could be a very valuable asset for the Broncos (or Colts, for that matter).
The Broncos don’t seem sold on any players in the top five of this year’s draft aside from maybe Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Bradley Chubb, and Saquon Barkley, and it seems more likely than not that those players will be taken in the top four picks.
If that ends up being the case, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the Broncos to have a deal in place with a team like the Cardinals, knowing they could get a fair haul for that fifth overall pick.