The question was about how he and General Manager Steve Keim felt Saturday, two days later, about the ability to trade up and draft potential quarterback-of-the-future Josh Rosen, and Steve Wilks took the opportunity to flash back to January, when he was first hired.
"When you go back to January 22nd, when I was hired, there were questions," Wilks said. "Here's a guy with no head coaching experience, you have no quarterback on the roster, the offensive line has a lot of holes, there are a lot of questions about this team. And I would say this: Sight is totally different than vision. Sometimes you have to see past the difficulties. We had a plan. We had a vision."
Wilks noted the additions on the offensive line, with Justin Pugh and Andre Smith. He noted signing quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon. He reiterated the oft-used "aggressive" phrase the Cardinals have used in relation to the first-round trade and the Rosen pick.
"To be sitting in this situation now, to have what could be a future franchise quarterback for many years, you've got a dynamic running back who I consider to be the best in the league in David Johnson, we continue to build that offensive line, dynamic receiver (Christian Kirk) who will learn and grow from one of the best in the league in Larry Fitzgerald, so we got better," Wilks said. "Going back and looking at it now, we're in a great situation."
Whether the draft class pans out is TBD. Keim has been excited about every draft class he's had on the Saturday of the draft. Then, inevitably, some guys don't work out. That happen with every team. But Wilks does have a point -- the roster, particularly the quarterbacks, looked bleak a few months ago. Suddenly, not so much. That's not to say Rosen -- or Bradford -- is a lock to star in Arizona. But they could. And if Kirk becomes the wideout the Cards want and need, if Chris Campbell fleshes out as one of Wilks' late-round developmental gems in the secondary ... yes, there are "ifs." But the Cards are in a much different spot than they were.
-- As for Keim and his Rosen reflection, he admitted "it's a little bit of a relief" to have that future QB around. Finally.
"But at the same time, (I want) to have a little fun and watch how this thing plays out," Keim said. "I don't forget my evaluation on Sam Bradford, and if he can stay healthy, you could be talking about a guy who could potentially be the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. I feel that strongly about how he can throw the football."
-- The Cards are in the process of agreeing with undrafted rookies. The official list won't be out until Monday at the earliest, but I'll probably retweet some names on Twitter if you want to look there. The official list always ends up a little different -- those guys still have to pass physicals, and sometimes, players tweet out they are "signing" with a team even when they are only invited on a tryout basis.
-- Last season, then-rookie safety Budda Baker missed all the offseason work other than the rookie minicamp because of an arcane NFL rule that prevented rookies from taking part until after graduation of their school. (The rule was in place to make sure guys could graduate without the pressure of having to miss time, although the reality is guys who are drafted most of the time are ready to go play football anyway.) There were a handful of schools that are on quarter systems and don't graduate until mid-June. UCLA is one, meaning Rosen normally would have been out like Baker was. But the NFL changed the rule last fall, and Rosen will be able to be around.
"We all know you can't get that time back," Wilks said.
