The potential cost for the Cardinals to trade up, draft TE Kyle Pitts

Florida tight end Kyle Pitts is one of the more intriguing prospects in the 2021 NFL draft. It could be argued that he is the best player in the entire draft. He will be one of the first skill players off the board.

He is the sort of player that the Arizona Cardinals could target in the draft and be willing to make a trade up to land him.

He will almost certainly be gone by the 16th overall pick, their selection.

So how much would it cost to move up and who might be willing to move down?

The first three picks will be quarterbacks selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers. We know the Atlanta Falcons, who have the fourth overall pick, are open to trading. The Cincinnati Bengals, with the fifth pick, appear to be set on picking at No. 5. The Miami Dolphins aren’t going to trade down again, as they moved from third to 12th and then moved back up.

Using The Draft Network’s mock draft machine, I ran roughly 20 simulations. Pitts never made it to the 10th pick. In fact, almost all of them had the Dolphins selecting him with the sixth overall pick.

So the Cardinals could potentially trade up to No. 4, No. 7, No. 8 or No. 9.

Below are the costs of the trade for each spot.

Trading up to No. 4 overall

Based on the simulations, this might be the one way to get Pitts. Otherwise, he might be gone when the Dolphins pick at No. 6. In this simulation, it took the Cardinals giving up the 16th pick, their second-round pick this year and then a first-round pick in 2022 and 2023. I was able to get the Falcons to five up a fourth in 2022 and a fifth in 2023. But it essentially costs as much to move up as it did the 49ers to go to No. 3. That is a huge price to pay to get a tight end.

Trading up to No. 7 overall

In one of the simulations I ran, he was available at No. 7, so I traded with the Detroit Lions. For this trade, it took the No. 16 pick and their 2022 first-round pick. This is expected.

Trading up to No. 8 overall

In another simulation, he was available with the eighth overall pick, so I made a trade with the Carolina Panthers. This trade also required the Cardinals' 2022 first-round pick in addition to the 16th pick in this year's draft, but the Panthers give back their third-round pick in 2022. This is a little better.

Trading up to No. 9

This was the latest he was available in any of my simulations. The trade with the Denver Broncos took the 16th pick and the Cardinals' second-round pick in 2022. This is palatable. He won't likely make it this far, but if he were to be still on the board with the ninth pick, they should pull the trigger if the Broncos are willing. Listen to the latest from Cards Wire's Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify. Latest show:

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