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No. 1 Arizona Cardinals: DE Nick Bosa, Ohio State
The Cardinals have not picked this high in some time after enjoying a good stretch of years with Bruce Arians, Carson Palmer and company. Now, the Cardinals are going in a new direction and potentially an even newer direction with rumors Arizona could clean house. The Cardinals already invested in a quarterback in the 2018 draft and now need to surround Josh Rosen with the talent needed for him to develop as a signal caller.
The value where the Cardinals are picking is going to be defensive players. Nick Bosa is the favorite to be the top pick, but there are plenty of other players in the running as well.
If the Cardinals do indeed make changes to their front office and coaching staff, they will need to do so quickly in order to have a new regime in place for this critical draft for the franchise.
Bosa is the favorite to be the No. 1 pick despite missing the majority of the 2018 college football season with an abdominal injury. Much has been made about Bosa deciding to leave the Ohio State team to prepare for the draft. It is hard to imagine a team not picking Bosa because of this decision.
One scout told Sports Illustrated Bosa will undoubtedly be asked about this decision at the NFL combine but does not expect it to be something that impacts his draft stock.
“Somebody will try to bust his chops about it, for sure,” one scout told Sports Illustrated. “Some of it may just be to test him to see how reacts. But at the end of the day, this won’t affect how teams evaluate him. He’s damn good.”
The bigger concern will be Bosa's injury, but it does not appear to be anything that is expected to prevent him from going through the draft process.
No. 2 San Francisco 49ers: DT Quinnen Williams, Alabama
The 49ers have shown a lot of spunk late in the season for a team that is picking this high in the draft. San Francisco defeated the Seahawks and played the Bears close. This is a team that will be much better once Jimmy Garoppolo returns under center. While no one likes to see a player get injured, the Niners have an opportunity to take advantage of selecting high in the draft based on unfortunate circumstances.
San Francisco can reload in the draft with a lot of young players to go with their standout quarterback returning for the start of next season. The Niners have a history of being known for their defense and will have an opportunity to continue that based on the defensive talent in the upcoming draft.
Heading into the season, Ed Oliver and Rashan Gary were the favorites to be the first defensive tackle selected. Now, it appears Alabama's Quinnen Williams is the slight favorite. Williams is a red-shirt sophomore who has only played two seasons of college football. Williams is coming off a breakout season where he had eight sacks heading into the Orange Bowl.
Williams' draft stock is also helped by the Alabama stamp of approval that comes with playing under Nick Saban. After Williams' dominant performance against LSU, The Athletics's Dane Brugler tweeted about what makes Williams so intriguing.
"I think Nick Bosa is the top player and I don't think that'll change. But would it surprise me if a NFL team has Quinnen Williams No. 1? Absolutely not. His tape supports that type of consideration...Quinnen Williams is the highest-graded prospect on my draft board (No. 4 overall) playing in tonight's game...and he's living up to that. Each game is a highlight reel for him. He's something special," Brugler tweeted on Williams' draft stock.
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