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The Pick: EDGE Nick Bosa, Ohio State

Those not buying the propaganda on Murray can take comfort in the fact they're not alone, and within the media landscape neither am I. Well-connected longtime Cardinals beat writer Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic has been skeptical of the Murray-to-Arizona hype throughout the offseason, and in a recent media mock draft put together by Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com, Somers has the Cards passing on Murray in favor of former Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams in the top spot.

From my perspective it's simple: You don't sacrifice first-, third- and fifth-round draft picks for a quarterback and then give up on him after just 13 starts in a bad offense. The Cardinals would be silly to move on from Rosen this quickly, especially considering that Murray is far from a perfect prospect (he's exceptionally short at 5'10", he has a small college football sample and he could bail for baseball whenever he chooses).

It'd be one thing if there'd been a seismic regime change since the Cardinals took Rosen 10th overall in 2018, but Keim remains the general manager.

My impression is the Cardinals haven't entirely ruled Murray out or made a decision at all about the top pick, which is fair considering time remains on their side. They'd be stupid not to at least test the waters regarding a trade at the top of the draft, which is why the smart approach is to be publicly vague about your intentions. That combined with a successful, leak-free misinformation campaign would make it easy to convince the media (and potentially your counterparts) that Murray is a lock.

That's the best way to manufacture peak value for this pick, but I'm not convinced anybody would be willing to pay up for a trade-up. Only one other team with a top-nine pick needs a quarterback, and the Giants might be fine with "settling" for Haskins if Murray were to go first overall (in fact, they just might prefer Haskins to Murray). Would the Broncos be willing to move up nine spots when Murray doesn't seem like a John Elway-type quarterback? History also indicates he's not Jon Gruden's type either, but more on the Raiders' smoke screen attempts in a few moments.

Bleacher Report NFL draft whiz Matt Miller still has Murray going to Arizona in this spot, but even he says he likes Rosen more than any quarterback in this class (albeit that Murray "has the tools to be amazing"). We're on the same page, except I'm still not willing to believe the Cardinals would be desperate and/or foolish enough to pull the trigger on a Rosen trade/Murray pick, barring a king's ransom for the former.

Maybe I'm giving the Cardinals too much credit, but giving them Bosa over Murray is actually an attempt at optimism.

This could just as easily be Williams, especially considering that the Cardinals already have an elite edge presence with Chandler Jones. Still, there remains hope for Robert Nkemdiche inside, defensive end is a slightly more important position and Bosa is the complete package.