TEMPE, Ariz. – The Cardinals don’t have to wait until the final day of the NFL draft to find their gems.
All they need is the third round.
In the four years that general manager Steve Keim and head coach Bruce Arians have worked together in Arizona, the third round has been more reliable and productive for them than any of the other six. In 2013, they drafted safety Tyrann Mathieu. In 2014, they landed wide receiver John Brown and linebacker Kareem Martin. In 2015, they chose running back David Johnson. Last year, they selected cornerback Brandon Williams.
“That’s my round,” Arians said. “I love that round. Usually, for whatever reason, really good plays that didn’t fit somebody’s eye fall right there. And if you love them, go get them. I think that’s a round where you don’t have to worry about reaching. Just take the guy you love.”
That’s exactly what the Cardinals have done.
Each of the five has been a diamond in the rough, with some more polished than others. And three -- Mathieu, Brown and Johnson -- have been part of the franchise’s core since they were drafted.
Mathieu was Keim and Arians’ first third-round pick together, and is still considered the most risky. He missed the season before he was drafted because he was suspended due to failed drug tests and then later arrested. Mathieu was a top-five talent who the Cardinals watched tumble down the draft board, right to them. While he’s battled injuries throughout his four seasons, he’s also played at an All-Pro level and was in the conversation for defensive player of the year before suffering a second major knee in jury in 2015.
In 2014 Arizona drafted Kareem Martin, one of two third-round picks of the Arians era from a Power 5 conference, and used a trade to draft Brown, a wide receiver from Pittsburg State in Kansas who turned heads in the NFL with his lightning-fast speed.
However, a year later may have unearthed the gem of Arians’ and Keim’s career with Johnson, a product of the University of Northern Iowa. He was on most NFL teams’ radars and even some of their draft boards, but every team let him pass until the Cardinals picked him at No. 86. All Johnson has done since is become one of the top three running backs in the game.
Arizona’s third-round pick in 2016 has the potential to be one of those gems that slowly shines brighter as his career progresses. Brandon Williams was taken out of Texas A&M as a converted cornerback. He only started playing the position before his senior season of college and ended up starting the Cardinals’ season opener last year.
Arians’ luck in the third round dates back even further.
The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Mike Wallace in 2009 and Emmanuel Sanders in 2010 when Arians was their offensive coordinator. In 2012, when Arians was the Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator and interim head coach, they drafted T.Y. Hilton.
If there’s a formula to finding value picks in the third round, neither Keim nor Arians will ever reveal it.
However, Arians has shed some light on the type of player he’s looking for in the third round: He has to be a guy the team likes as well as someone who it believes will make the team.
“You don’t have to have all that bullsh-- going around like, ‘He is not a first-round guy,’” Arians said.
To Keim, however, that’s one reason why Arizona has found success in the third round.
"I think the one thing that I have thought about over time is that sometimes when you look at second-round and third-round picks, maybe the bells and whistles are not there,” Keim said. “When I say that, they didn’t play at Ohio State or they didn’t jump 42 inches, but they are good football players who have the passion and all the necessary skills, and maybe a chip on their shoulder because they were overlooked.
“A lot of the times the first-round picks come through the doors and feel like they should be given something. Whereas these third-rounders have to fight for it and have fought for it their whole lives. So, I think there has to be something said about that. To have that natural chip that continues to sit on your shoulder. “