2018 NFL Mock Draft: Browns land Baker Mayfield

While USC quarterback Sam Darnold may not fall this far come draft day, I think the Arizona Cardinals would very well represent his best fit in the draft and would be more than happy to trade up from 15th in order to get him.

The Cards enter 2018 in a transition year that they hope can simultaneously be a playoff year. Head coach Bruce Arians and quarterback Carson Palmer both announced their retirement at the end of the season. And while former Panthers offensive coordinator Steve Wilks has been tabbed to replace Arians, Arizona is still without a long-term option at quarterback.

Whether general manager Steve Keim regrets passing on Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes in the 2017 Draft, the likelihood that the club uses their first-round pick on their quarterback of the future, if they don’t land one in free agency, gets higher by the day.

Darnold is considered by some to be the top quarterback in this class and possesses great size and sneaky athleticism. He’s extremely tough to bring down from in the pocket and has a keen awareness to know when to bail, but always keeps his eyes downfield. The USC offense utilizes many pro-style concepts which Darnold is able to execute by going through his progressions and being able to manipulate opposing defenses with his eyes.

Two things that will certainly need to be corrected are Darnold’s elongated release when throwing and his penchant for turning the ball over. Darnold threw 13 interceptions and fumbled 11 times in 2017 for the Trojans, which is certainly something to be concerned about going forward.

I think that Darnold may be a bit more of a project than people think but there’s no doubt that the Cardinals would love to get a player of his caliber to be the next face of their franchise going forward.