TEMPE, Ariz. -- When Cardinals general manager Rod Graves and coach Ken Whisenhunt finally arrived for their post-draft press conference on Saturday, the local media couldn't resist a lighthearted jab.
"How come you took so many offensive linemen?" a reporter asked.
Graves laughed because he could afford to laugh. The tension created Friday by a surprising third-round pick dissolved when the Cards selected three offensive linemen -- including Mississippi tackle Bobby Massie, whom many analysts had projected as a second-rounder -- among their final five picks to fill a major need.
"It certainly seems like a good fit on the surface," Whisenhunt said of Massie. "We feel like he has the potential to be a starting right tackle, but he's got to prove that.
"He's a big guy, good movement skills, played in a very good conference, and he was all- Southeastern Conference a couple times. This is a tough transition coming into the NFL, but we feel like we've got a good young one there."
If you're looking for an overall grade of the Cards' draft, look elsewhere. Draft grades are made to sell newspapers and drive traffic to websites, but they don't offer much in the way of accuracy, a supposed staple of journalism.
The time to judge a draft is three years after the fact, not three hours after.
But if you were hoping to see the Cardinals address their most pressing needs, you can make a solid argument that they covered most of their bases. They got three offensive linemen, a legitimate No. 2 wide receiver in Michael Floyd to pair with and ease pressure on Larry Fitzgerald, and a raw but athletic safety in Justin Bethel who has a sick vertical leap (watch it here).
They also took a promising young quarterback with a big arm in San Diego State's Ryan Lindley and a cornerback that defensive coordinator Ray Horton likes in Oklahoma's Jamell Fleming.
The last line in Horton's notes when he interviewed Fleming was this: "Very smart player."
Some will question the Cards' decision to draft a corner when they already enjoyed decent depth at the position with Patrick Peterson, Greg Toler, William Gay, Michael Adams, A.J. Jefferson and Crezdon Butler. But the Cards ran very thin at that position last season due to injuries and vowed not to let it happen again.
"If you don't have this kind of depth -- with the Green Bay Packers, who are on the schedule, running five wides, New England with the big tight ends and New Orleans in the Hall of Fame Game with the big tight ends -- and you can't play more than one thing, you're kind of forcing yourself the way of the fullback, which is kind of an extinct position right now," said Horton, who will try Fleming at nickel, corner and safety.
Clearly, the Cards' lack of a second-round pick hurt them when it came to offensive linemen. Most of the highly rated tackles were gone by the time they selected in the third round, but the Cards stayed true to their draft board by selecting Floyd and felt fortunate when Massie was still available at No. 112 overall.
"It will make me hungry," Massie said of his drop on draft day. "I'll be ready to strap on pads. I really don't know too much about Arizona, but I know they throw the ball a lot. I'll keep the quarterback upright."
The only need the Cardinals weren't able to address -- or chose not to -- was a pass-rushing outside linebacker. They like the progress they saw last season from Sam Acho and O'Brien Schofield, but Graves said the club will continue to explore other options.
"I don't want to overlook the significance of veteran free agency," Graves said. "There are still opportunities out there. There may be an influx of names after June 1 for salary-cap reasons, so we still may have an opportunity to address positions on our football team."
Until these players actually take the field, the jury is out, but at the conclusion of a three-day marathon, Graves and Whisenhunt were predictably upbeat.
"At the end of the day, I think the fans wanted us to be in a position where we had an improved football team," Graves said. "I think we've given ourselves a chance to do that."
