With the Fifth Pick in the 2011 Dawgs By Nature Mock Draft, the Arizona Cardinals Select...

With the fifth pick in the 2011 Dawgs By Nature Community Mock Draft, the Arizona Cardinals select...

Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU

This selection and write-up was made by Browns town:

In my opinion, it's incredibly hard to justify passing on Peterson, so I'm simply not going to try. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not being lazy, Peterson is just that good. With as many needs as Arizona has, best player available is the only way to go and Patrick Peterson just might be the best player in the whole draft. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is a very capable corner when motivated, pairing him with Peterson means that they have the best secondary in their division and may eventually have one of the best in the NFL.

Sure, there are other players available that fit greater needs for Arizona (Von Miller and Robert Quinn), but Peterson is head and shoulders above them in terms of the impact that he will have on the team.

I see Peterson stepping in and starting right away as CB2, taking over the CB1 spot some time after midseason. I think we'll see greater production out of Peterson's rookie year than we did Joe Haden's. Cardinals fans can certainly live with that right?

I agree that the Cardinals have a lot of need, and I don't think any team can classify taking Peterson as being a bad pick. With that said, I think the Cardinals were held back so much by their quarterback situation last year that they need to get a guy like Blaine Gabbert in there (with Newton off the board already). This is a situation where the lockout could hurt a team like Arizona, who could have tried to make a pitch for quarterback Kevin Kolb via a trade and then address another position with this pick.

The Cleveland Browns are on the clock next (email has been sent to golanbatrac).