ESPN’s Schrager links Jeremiyah Love, Ty Simpson to Cardinals in final mock draft

The important market signal here is not the specific names, but the increasing likelihood that Arizona is willing to re-allocate premium draft capital toward low-cost quarterback control and a premium skill-position bet in the same draft. If that happens, it is a strong tell that the front office believes the roster is entering a narrow win-now window and is prioritizing upside over conventional draft-value discipline. That tends to compress patience in the market: one aggressive Day 1 move often precedes a second one, especially when the club is trying to manufacture a quarterback solution before the rookie wage scale becomes less advantageous.

The second-order effect is that this scenario would likely reprice the Cardinals’ 2026 offensive expectations more than the average draft-day narrative suggests. A running back picked this high only works if the team is confident the offensive line can be stabilized quickly, or else the pick becomes a forced efficiency bet that increases pressure on the passing game and defense. If the quarterback selection follows, the club is implicitly signaling that it expects near-term volatility under center and is using draft capital to create optionality rather than solve the problem cleanly in free agency.

For the market, the catalyst window is extremely short: draft night and the first 2-3 weeks after will matter far more than the pick itself. If Arizona leaves Day 1 with both players, sentiment around the offense likely improves into summer OTAs, but the reversal risk is high if preseason reporting shows the line still cannot create run efficiency or the rookie quarterback path looks more developmental than immediate. The contrarian miss is that consensus may be overpricing the immediate fantasy-football upside of a high-end back while underpricing the possibility that the quarterback room remains a bridge-to-nowhere setup, which would cap multi-month enthusiasm.