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The Arizona Cardinals are hoping to see multiple young players take that next step in their careers this season. And that began in OTAs and will ramp up even more in their upcoming training camp.
While they worry about that, our staff decided to perform a hypothetical NFL expansion draft. The last time the NFL had an expansion draft was when they introduced the Houston Texans in 2002. But what would happen if the 33rd team in the NFL were introduced, and how would it affect the Cardinals directly?
Early next week, A to Z Sports' Wendell Ferreira will be sharing the results of our hypothetical expansion draft, including the team's name and their roster. Before that could happen, though, each team had to make players available to be drafted.
Hypothetical NFL Expansion Draft Rules
- Each current NFL team has to leave 12 players unprotected.
- Players with 0 or 1 accrued seasons are automatically protected and can't be on the list. Players with no-trade clauses also aren't eligible.
- If the player is selected, the expansion team will absorb both his future salaries and signing bonus prorations.
- The list is final, meaning that teams can't withdraw a player after another one has been selected.
- The expansion team can get a maximum of two players from each NFL team, and a maximum of 40 players.
12 unprotected Cardinals' players
Offensive unprotected players
- Clayton Tune, QB
- Zonovan "Bam" Knight, RB
- Emari Demercado, RB
- Michael Carter, RB
- Trishon Jackson, WR
- Josiah Degura, TE
- Jake Curhan, G
- Nick Leverett, G
The popular position here for the Cardinals was RB, with three of their eight unprotected offensive players coming from that room. The team's top two RBs are going to for sure be James Conner and Trey Benson, so offering up as many as I could at that position seemed like a way that would hurt their roster the least if selected. The biggest blow to their roster if selected would probably be TE Joiah Degura, due to the TE two through four on the Cardinals' roster seeming to be very close. There is a world where Degura could earn the TE job in training camp. Part of the reason for this is that I think he has the highest floor of that trio, which includes Tip Reiman and Elijah Higgins.
Defensive unprotected players
- Dante Stills, DE
- Bilal Nichols, DT
- L.J. Collier, DE
- Jammie Robinson, S
On the defensive side of the ball, the only player that has a real shot at making the roster that had to be included was DT Bilal Nichols, who has a shot to get snaps as a rotational DT next year. Other than that, losing any of the other three wouldn't really affect the Cardinals' process of cutting their roster down to 53, which is exactly why they were the perfect selections to be unprotected for this hypothetical expansion draft.
More must-reads:
- Jordan Love's thumb surgery comes at inopportune time for Packers
- Jon Gruden 'looking forward to having the truth come out' amid lawsuit against NFL
- The 'NFL single-season reception leaders' quiz
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