The NFL Draft kicks off tonight, and teams are making last minute changes to their big boards. One player that has been all over the place is Alabama offensive tackle D.J. Fluker and according to CBS Sports guru Jason LaCanfora, Fluker is looking like he might go as high as seventh overall to the Arizona Cardinal who are “extremely high” on the tackle.
"The Cardinals are extremely high on Fluker, sources said, and Johnson is under consideration there as well."
Arizona is widely believed to be taking an offensive tackle with their first-round selection, especially after trading with the Oakland Raiders to acquire Carson Palmer. The quarterback situation is far from being solved, but the Cardinals know, as everyone else does, that their offensive line just isn’t fit in it’s current form to protect even a veteran quarterback let alone a rookie.
Fluker is a guy who has been mocked as low as the late first-round and now as high as the seventh pick. He’s without a doubt the third best tackle at minimum behind Luke Joeckel and Eric Fisher, but he may end up edging Lane Johnson as the third tackle taken on Thursday evening. Arizona has been mocked as taking Johnson, but Fluker may end up being the better pick.
Johnson spent his college days at Oklahoma, which is not a bad place to learn the ropes. But Fluker comes from the best football factory in the world, which is something teams rarely overlook in the draft.