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NFL mock draft: Dallas Cowboys make trade with Arizona Cardinals
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- NFL mock draft: Dallas Cowboys make trade with Arizona Cardinals
The 2026 NFL draft is a little more than a week away and we have more mock drafts and projections to cover. In a new mock draft from NFL.com's Gennaro Filice, the Arizona Cardinals wheel and deal, and they end up with two first-round picks.
After the Las Vegas Raiders take quarterback Fernando Mendoza first overall, the New York Jets get LB/EDGE Arvell Reese, which prompts a trade. The Cardinals, instead of taking pass rusher Davis Bailey, make a deal with the Dallas Cowboys .
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The Cowboys covet Bailey, the nation's leader in sacks last season, and send the Cardinals both their first-round draft picks — No. 12 and No. 20, which they acquired from the Green Bay Packers for pass rusher Micah Parsons .
Who do the Cardinals get with two first-round selections?
Round 1, No. 12 overall: Miami OT Francis Mauigoa
The Cardinals want to draft a tackle. Mauigoa has been projected to the Cardinals with the third pick, so getting him 12th overall and getting to select another player in the first round is huge.
He could immediately step into the starting lineup at right tackle.
Then, they make a splash.
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Round 1, No. 20 overall: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
Some continue to insist the Cardinals are into Simpson and even willing to trade up to get him. Now, if they are able to get him in a trade back like this proposed deal with the Cowboys, it's not so bad. They would have turned the third pick into Mauigoa and Simpson.
It's better than giving up assets to get him, but is he really going to be the franchise guy? If that's what they think, then they should go for it.
So a tackle and a quarterback in Round 1 isn't bad, but it leaves the Cardinals still lacking another threat to get to the quarterback off the edge.
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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: NFL mock draft: Dallas Cowboys make trade with Arizona Cardinals
