List of Arizona Cardinals first-round draft picks

The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference West Division.^[5] The team was established in Chicago in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club and is the oldest continuously run professional football franchise.^[6] They joined the NFL as a charter member on September 17, 1920, as the Chicago Cardinals.^[7][8] In 1960, the team moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where it became the St. Louis Cardinals.^[9][10] Before the 1988 season, the team moved to Tempe, Arizona, and played home games for the next 18 seasons at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University.^[11][12] In 1994, after being known as the Phoenix Cardinals from 1988–1993, they became the Arizona Cardinals.^[13][7][14] In 2006, the team moved their home games to State Farm Stadium (then known as University of Phoenix Stadium), where they have played their home games since.^[12][15][16] The team was purchased by Charles Bidwill in 1932 and has been owned by a member of the Bidwill family since, with Charles' grandson Michael Bidwill being the current owner.^[17][18]

The NFL draft, officially known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting",^[19][20][21] is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment.^[22] The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings; the teams with the worst win–loss records receive the earliest picks. Teams that qualified for the NFL playoffs select after non-qualifiers, and their order depends on how far they advanced, using their regular season record as a tie-breaker. The final two selections in the first round are reserved for the Super Bowl runner-up and champion. Draft picks are tradable and players or other picks can be acquired with them.^[23]

In 1936, the league introduced the NFL draft after team owners voted on it in 1935.^[24][25] The intention of the draft is to make the NFL more competitive, as some teams had an advantage in signing players.^[23][25] From 1947 through 1958, the NFL designated the first overall selection as a "bonus" or "lottery pick". The pick was awarded by a random draw and the winner who received the "bonus pick" forfeited its selection in the final round of the draft and became ineligible for future draws. The system was abolished prior to the 1959 NFL draft, as all twelve teams in the league at the time had received a bonus choice.^[26][27]

Since the first draft, the Cardinals have selected 93 players in the first round.^[28][29] The team's first-round pick in the inaugural NFL draft was Jimmy Lawrence, a back from Texas Christian University; he was the 5th overall selection.^[30][31] The Cardinals have selected first overall five times and selected Ki Aldrich in 1939, George Cafego in 1940, Charley Trippi in 1945, King Hill in 1958, and Kyler Murray in 2019.^[28] In the most recent draft, held in 2024, the Cardinals selected Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and Missouri defensive lineman Darius Robinson.^[32]

The Cardinals did not draft a player in the first round on five occasions.^[28] Four of the team's first-round picks—Ollie Matson, Joe Namath, Charley Trippi, and Roger Wehrli—have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.^[27][29] The Cardinals have used seven first-round picks on players—Glenn Dobbs, Dub Jones, John Kimbrough, Carl McAdams, Joe Namath, Ken Rice, Jim Spavital—who chose to sign with competing leagues instead.^{[33][34][35][36][37][38]}