Fans on the Great Lawn in Glendale Thursday evening were ready to explode when the NFL Draft turned to the Arizona Cardinals for the third overall pick.
When the moment came at the team’s official draft party adjacent to State Farm Stadium, the mood was subdued when the Cards traded down, instead swapping with the Houston Texans to give Arizona the 12th overall pick, before another trade then brought them back up to sixth.
Ultimately the club kept things in the family so to speak, choosing offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. out of Ohio State. Johnson, who started all 26 games for the Buckeyes the past two seasons and originally played right guard before moving to left tackle, already has ties to the organization. His father was a fifth-round pick of the Cardinals in the 1999 NFL Draft and spent one season with the team.
