The Arizona Cardinals found an inside linebacker in the sixth round, selecting Quan Sturdivant, a 6-1, 241-pounder from North Carolina.

Sturdivant was a starter since his freshman season, although his career wasn’t without controversy. He didn’t start the season opener against LSU because he was just cleared the night before by the NCAA, which was looking into accusations of taking benefits from an agent.

Sturdivant missed five weeks as a senior because of a hamstring strain.

The Cardinals needed an inside linebacker because they are expected to release Gerald Hayes before the 2011 season.

The Cardinals have another picking coming in the sixth round.

This report first appeared in Kent Somers’ Cardinals blog.

Turns out not all promises whispered in the weeks leading up to the draft are lies.

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Profile: Ryan Williams | Bickley: Cardinals baffle experts

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When Virginia Tech running back Ryan Williams visited Arizona, someone with the team promised him the club would take him in the second round.

And what do you know, the Cardinals surprised nearly everyone but Williams, by doing just that Friday with the 38th overall pick.

“They told me that they hoped and prayed that I don’t get past Pick 38, because at Pick 38 I’m going to be a Cardinal,” Williams said on a conference call with Arizona media. “I’m not sure if they told anybody else that . . . but they were men of their word. I really respect that.”

Cardinals General Manager Rod Graves and coach Ken Whisenhunt chuckled at the story, because promising a potential draft pick isn’t in their playbook.

“That would be highly risky,” Graves said. “We’re glad we made an impression on him.”

Whisenhunt suggested an investigation would ensue. “Maybe some of the guys he (Williams ) listed as ones who told him that, (you) might have a chance to circle back and ask those guys. I know I will.”

While Whisenhunt and Graves were all-smiles with their draft picks on Day 2, including Florida Atlantic tight end Rob Housler, the selection of Williams was curious.

Williams joins a position that already has Tim Hightower, Beanie Wells and LaRod Stephens-Howling.

Unless there’s a change, Cardinals running backs are going to need bunk beds at training camp.

“It wasn’t done with the idea of sending one of those guys a message,” Whisenhunt said. “I think it was done with the idea of ‘this was a very good football player.’ “

Hightower and Wells have split the featured back duties the past two years, and Stephens-Howling is expected to be the third-down back.

Wells has been hampered by injuries, while Hightower has fumbled in critical situations. Whisenhunt said Williams did not fumble in two seasons at Virginia Tech, which was a factor in drafting him. But the school’s official website lists him with six fumbles in two seasons, half of which were lost.

The Cardinals had many needs entering this draft, but running back was not among them. That is an indication of what they think of Williams, and, possibly, Hightower and Wells.

A trade involving a running back is not in the plans Whisenhunt said.

“Excited about him,” Wells tweeted. “Think he’ll be a great fit for the Cards!”

A year ago, Williams was considered one of the better running backs in the country after rushing for 1,655 yards and 21 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman. He was hampered last year by a hamstring strain and gained 477 yards and nine touchdowns while playing a part-time role.

“Even when I came back, I came back to a three-back rotation and I was still productive,” Williams said. “I think I had a 5.3-yard carry (average).”

Williams ran a 4.59 40-yard dash at the combine but said his speed wasn’t a concern, at least to him.

“I think 40 speed and game speed are two different things,” he said. “So it didn’t concern me at all, because I play football. I’m just glad the Cardinals realized that I’m a football player and can help this team win.”

Whisenhunt said he doesn’t think his other running backs are afraid of competition.

“Let’s face it, guys,” Whisenhunt said. “We were 5-11 last year. We got to get better as a football team.”

In Housler, the Cardinals believe they have a tight end who can put stress on defenses. He’s 6 foot 5 and close to 250 pounds, yet ran the 40-yard dash in 4.46 seconds at the scouting combine.

“As much as we run three-wide receiver sets, when you add a combination of a guy who has that type of speed and receiving ability, it can make you a very dynamic offense,” Whisenhunt said. “That can present some matchup problems.”

Bio: Ryan Williams

Position: Running back

School: Virginia Tech.

Height, weight: 5-9, 207.

Hometown: Manassas, Va.

Notable: After a redshirt year, Williams played two seasons for the Hokies. In 2009, he rushed for 1,655 yards and 21 touchdowns. In 2010, he struggled with a hamstring injury and was limited to 477 yards on 110 carries. . . . His addition creates a crowded backfield. The Cardinals already have Beanie Wells, Tim Hightower and LaRod Stephens-Howling. It will be hard to keep all four on the roster if they are healthy.

Quote: “Can you ever be overstocked at a position in this league? We used all four backs last year. There were times when we only had one available to us.” - Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt

Bio: Rob Housler

Position: Tight end

School: Florida Atlantic

Height, weight: 6-5, 248

Hometown: Converse, Texas.

Notable: Housler went to Florida Atlantic because it was the only Division I school to offer him a scholarship. He redshirted after his junior year because the team had several tight ends in the same class and Housler had a redshirt year available. Caught 39 passes as a senior and scored four touchdowns. Married and father of a son. . . . He should contribute immediately in passing situations. He runs the 40-yard dash in under 4.5 seconds and has good hands. He needs work on his blocking.

Quote: “We think he brings a unique skill set to the position. You look at some of the impact that some of these types of players have had on teams in the last few years, that’s one of the things that you think can help us, too.” - Whisenhunt

The Cardinals acquired the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft through a painful 5-11 season, but wise use of that selection Thursday could help them avoid similar outcomes in the future.

The Cardinals likely will have options other than just keeping that pick and taking the best player left. Other teams already have called about trading up into that spot, giving the Cardinals additional selections in return.

“Some of them are just exploratory and some of them are serious,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said of the inquiries. “We really won’t know until (Thursday) which ones are (serious). There are a couple that you know are serious but there’s a couple that could get more serious as we get closer to it.”

The Texans, for instance, reportedly will be interested in trading up if Louisiana State cornerback Patrick Peterson falls to No. 5. Such a trade could cost the Texans their second-round pick, or some combination of other selections.

In evaluating any possible trade offers, the Cardinals must consider not only what they would receive in compensation, but also what they would be giving up.

That pick has great value. And while trading down would give the Cardinals additional choices, it could cost them a chance to draft a player who can change a game. For that reason, there’s a premium the Cardinals should want in return for that selection.

“It’s a great spot to be in, given the talent that exists,” General Manager Rod Graves said. “There is still an opportunity there for a player who can help teams in a number of different ways.”

Impact selection

Many prognosticators expect the Cardinals to take Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert, but the team also is looking for a player who can make an immediate impact.

That would seem to preclude taking a quarterback, and instead point to selecting a player such as Texas A&M outside linebacker Von Miller, or Georgia receiver A.J. Green or Peterson.

“There’s all kinds of scenarios that could happen,” Whisenhunt said. “We’re certainly not ruling out moving in the draft. If we have our eyes on a couple of guys, if that’s not available to us, then there might be opportunities to move in the draft, and we’re not ruling that out.”

The Cardinals’ history, however, provides a sign of caution. In 2003, the team traded the sixth overall pick to move down to the 17th and 18th. The Cardinals had their eyes on defensive end Jerome McDougle from Miami.

The Eagles, however, traded up to take McDougle at No. 15. The Cardinals ended up taking receiver Bryant Johnson and defensive end Calvin Pace, who each had serviceable seasons.

If the Cardinals had kept the sixth pick, they could have taken Arizona State’s Terrell Suggs, who has become an elite pass rusher for the Ravens.

Options open

One important factor in moving down is having more than one player targeted for possible selection.

“You just never know who is going to be there,” Whisenhunt said. “To think you are going to move back to a certain level to get a certain player, there is no guarantee that is going to be there. You have to have a range where you know there are a couple of guys and have a strategy.”

With high draft picks come opportunity and pressure. Blow one and a team will never hear the end of it. Capitalize on one, as the Cardinals did with Larry Fitzgerald in 2004 (third overall), and it can help propel a franchise to division titles.

At No. 5, the Cardinals have the opportunity to address their greatest need: quarterback. But it doesn’t appear they think there is a quarterback worthy of taking that high, although no one is saying that.

“When you talk about taking a player with the fifth pick, you want somebody who can have an immediate impact on your team, and we need it, after having been a team that was 5-11 last year,” Whisenhunt said.

Like most decision makers in the NFL, Whisenhunt is keeping all options open prior to the draft, at least publicly.

“If you feel strongly enough about the quarterback, and his development into that position, you wouldn’t rule out taking that guy, even though you know you may not have the immediate impact that you might from one of these other guys,” he said.

“But if you get it right, you don’t have to worry about that position for a long time. That’s a pretty tremendous impact as well. It’s kind of hard. There’s no clear-cut answer.”

When Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton looks for an edge in football, he looks first at the edges of formations.

In today’s game, where spreading the field with receivers is the trend, the “edge” players on defense had better be able to match up with their offensive counterparts, Horton said.

“It’s making the game more of a track meet,” he said. “And one of my philosophies forever has been: It’s the outside of the team that is important.

“The cornerback better be able to match up with these wide receivers. Your defensive end better match up with that tackle. The game is getting spread out.”

Horton was hired this off-season because Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt would like to run a defensive system similar to the Steelers’. Like Whisenhunt, Horton is a former Steelers assistant, and Horton played and coached under Dick LeBeau, one of the better defensive coordinators in NFL history.

Horton knows what to watch, but changes at the college level in recent years have made scouting more of a challenge.

The advent of the spread offense has altered how NFL scouts view offensive players. A quarterback in the spread offense is rarely under center, for instance, and tight ends, if there are any, aren’t asked to block much.

Scouting defensive players has changed, too. Finding 300-plus-pound nose tackles isn’t as easy as before. Identifying versatile outside linebackers is a challenge, and evaluating cornerbacks is more difficult, too, Horton said.

“Most college cornerbacks have no technique,” he said. “They don’t backpedal any more. They just side shuffle or they sit and hit guys.

“First thing we tell college cornerbacks when they come into the NFL is: You can’t hit (downfield) and you’ve got to tackle a guy because he can get up off the ground and run.”

But the hardest evaluation on defense is trying to predict whether a defensive end in college can play outside linebacker in the NFL, Horton said.

“They had their hand on the ground, rushing most of the time to now standing up, dropping, covering,” Horton said. “What you’re looking for is athletic ability and sometimes it’s hard to project.”

The Cardinals might select a quarterback in the NFL draft next week. Or they might not.

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Sunday night: Sport Tonight’s NFL draft special

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The people who could supply the answers probably wouldn’t even confirm the spelling of their own last names at this point.

“It depends on the quarterback,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said Thursday when asked whether the team would like to draft a quarterback. “We’ve said that’s a position that we feel is important that we address.”

The Cardinals, who have the fifth overall pick, could find a new quarterback through various avenues; the draft is just the first exit along the road. The Cardinals could take that exit, or bypass it, hoping that the answer awaits in free agency or via trade.

With a lockout in place, no one knows when, or if, that is going to happen.

“This is the first opportunity we’ve had (to address it), and if it is the right fit for us, then by all means,” Whisenhunt said. “I have had a good chance to meet, spend time, work out a lot of these guys and it’s a good crop.”

There are no sure things in the draft, however, and that’s especially true for this quarterback class. Whisenhunt said recently there is no one like the St. Louis Rams’ Sam Bradford or the Atlanta Falcons’ Matt Ryan available.

“I was talking more about what he had done on the college level,” Whisenhunt said, “from the consistency, from the number of years of experience. When you talk about Cam Newton (of Auburn) or Blaine Gabbert (Missouri), those are both guys that I think played good football for their teams, but there is not a lot to base it off of other than this year.

“That is what I meant when I compared them to a Sam Bradford.”

A short break

The Cardinals will take a three-day break over Easter, then finish their draft preparation next week.

That includes conducting their own mock drafts, and for Whisenhunt at least, paying attention to those done by the media.

“Listen, there is nothing wrong with information,” Whisenhunt said. “There are enough people that don’t agree with what we do, or the calls that I make, so it is my chance to look at something you guys (reporters) do and disagree with you. It is kind of a guilty pleasure for me to go and look at what different guys put for their picks.”

Trade talks

General Manager Rod Graves said he has received calls from other teams about the possibility of trading for the Cardinals’ first-round pick. But such talk is not unusual, he said.

“There are going to be some excellent football players there in the top 10,” Graves said. “Many of those guys will be deemed as franchise-type players. So there will be interest to get up in there, and I wouldn’t be surprised that we will get more calls as we get closer to the draft and even on draft day.”

The Cardinals select . . .

Retired players will announce selections for each team in the second round of the draft next Friday. Cornerback Aeneas Williams will represent the Cardinals