I did not see this one coming. The Night Owl and southpaw70 disclose and explain:
A.J. Green, WR - Georgia.Even though QB & OLB are the two top priorities for the Cardinals, we feel that Blaine Gabbert is too much of a project player to take at #5, and we like the prospects in the second round with Andy Dalton, Christian Ponder, & Greg McElroy. With Miller off the board, any other OLB would be a reach. The temptation to take Robert Quinn is there, but with the medical history of the tumor and being off for a year, he's too much of a risk. At this point, we're choosing to replace a player that was lost last year. In drafting A.J. Green, we're filling the void left by Anquan Boldin and giving whichever young QB comes in more targets to work with.
Ideally in this situation, we would be looking to trade back, probably a first round swap with the Eagles to acquire QB Kevin Kolb. He would fill a massive void that hasn't been filled after Kurt Warner's retirement and gives the team the franchise QB they desperately need. As that's not an option here, we're gonna build around a second round QB. McElroy's intelligence and winning history seem to be a perfect fit for the Cardinals in the second round, so giving him another dangerous WR next to Larry Fitzgerald and moving Steve Breaston back to the slot will make the offense feared once again.
What do you think? Would you have picked A.J. Green there?
A quick recap of the first five picks of the draft:
1. Panthers--Cam Newton (QB, Auburn)
2. Broncos--Patrick Peterson (CB, LSU)
3. Bills--Marcell Dareus (DT, Alabama)
4. Bengals--Von Miller (OLB/DE, Texas A&M)
5. Cardinals--A.J. Green (WR, Georgia)
Jordann: You and the Cleveland Browns are on the clock.