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After the Floyd pick, and other notes

If I am Andre Roberts, there isn’t anything else I can really say but bring it on. And that’s what the Cards’ receiver did — in the right way — by embracing the Michael Floyd draft choice by calling it “a great pick.” He said on XTRA 910 that the Cards needed another receiver because “it is a passing league.” How he deals with this — or how Early Doucet does — will be one of the stories of camp. Floyd is a No. 1 draft pick. He’s not a third-rounder like Roberts and Doucet once were. He’s going to have to play. He’s supposed to play. In some ways, this feels like the wide receiving corps has come full-circle (at least potentially) since the 2008 draft, when Doucet was taken and joined Fitz, Boldin and Breaston.

But as Whiz said, “Michael Floyd hasn’t done one thing in this league as a player.” He must prove himself. And we all know how Whisenhunt prefers to deal with rookies, at least at first.

– The Cards will get a tackle at some point. Maybe even the next pick, in the third round. “I think there will be opportunities there,” general manager Rod Graves said. “We certainly hope so. We are not going to do it at the expense of other magnificent players.” In other words, we need to stick to the draft board.

– In the feedback I have gotten, some aren’t thrilled the Cards passed on T Riley Reiff to take Floyd. Here’s my analogy: It was the flip-side of Levi Brown/Adrian Peterson of 2007. You have to take the player you feel is the best, and go from there. That’s what the Cards did. You can’t take a guy for need if the other guy is rated so much better. You just can’t.

– Is Fitz happy the Cards have Floyd? Yes. Did they take him for Fitz? I absolutely don’t believe that. I think they thought that much of him as a player. That the team’s star likes him is a bonus.

– I will be honest: I thought the Cards were going to end up trading. I was wrong.

– Never say never, but don’t be waiting for a second-round pick. They just don’t have the ammunition to get into the second round. “We’re not going to sit idle,” Graves said. “As it stands right now, we don’t have a second-round pick so there is not a lot we can do but wait. We will see what happens.”

– Floyd, on the plan to start from Day One: “That’s my goal. I’m going to keep working hard. That’s in my arsenal, that’s in my head that I’m a workaholic. I’m going to work hard to get in that position.”

– Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly couldn’t stop raving about Floyd’s work ethic, how he grew from his off-field problems, and how he graduated with a degree in sociology in 3 1/2 years. “You could consider Mike a raw receiver in a sense that he can get better in the technical elements of route running and things of that nature,” Kelly said. “But he is certainly a guy that attacks the football and attacks defenders. And blocking, he is an outstanding blocker.”