The Arizona Cardinals have had since the end of the 2018 regular season to identify the top selection of the 2019 NFL Draft.
But with two days remaining before the Cardinals make the pick official, the team continues to mull options at No. 1.
"We're still working through things," Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters Tuesday. "It is a process. I wouldn't say the hay is in the barn."
Numerous draft analysts project former Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray to the Cardinals, and that scenario opens up a possible trade of Josh Rosen, whom the Cardinals selected with the 10th overall pick of the 2018 draft.
Ultimately, the ball is in the Cardinals' court on the selection.
Kingbury and the team's decision makers might not know the pick Tuesday. But the time for annual pre-draft speculation gone wild around the league finally ends when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announces Thursday night that Arizona is on the clock.
Around The NFL is tracking all of the latest buzz on the 84th Annual NFL Draft, which opens Thursday in Nashville. Check back each day for updated nuggets as we pass along whispers from around the league. Here's what we're hearing Tuesday:
- Regardless of whether the Cardinals draft Murray, trade the pick or go with another selection, San Francisco will be in line to take Ohio State edge rusher Nick Bosa or Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. Believed to be two of the more surefire talents in the draft, it's a good dilemma to have.
San Francisco general manager John Lynch sees them as "extremely talented players that could add to any defensive line in the National Football League," NFL Network's Patrick Claybon reported on Up to the Minute.
The 49ers already have a talented defensive line corps with edge Dee Ford, for whom they traded in the offseason, defensive end Solomon Thomas and defensive tackles DeForest Buckner and Arik Armstead. However, don't expect that to sway them from going with Williams or Bosa.
"The talent that they have doesn't preclude them from taking a guy that would change them and make them a dominant group up front, especially in a division where the quarterbacks are so good," Claybon said.
- D.K. Metcalf was an NFL combine standout and then some. The receiver out of Ole Miss dazzled and became a combine star. But as for who's zeroing in on drafting him, predictions seems to be all over the place and if Metcalf knows anything, he's playing it close to the vest.
"No sir, I don't have a gut feeling," Metcalf said Tuesday on NFL Network. "I have no idea where I'm going."
