List of Arizona Cardinals first-round draft picks
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football franchise based in Glendale, Arizona. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League as a member club of the league's National Football Conference West division. The Cardinals were founded as the Morgan Athletic Club in 1898, and are the oldest continuously run professional football team in the World.
Officially known as the NFL Draft, the event is the NFL's primary mechanism for distributing newly professional players finished with their college football careers to its teams. 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. 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.Key
The Chicago years, 1936–1959
The St. Louis years, 1960–1987
| Year | Pick | Player name | College | Position |
| 1960 | 2 | George Izo | Notre Dame | QB |
| 1961 | 8 | Ken Rice | Auburn | T |
| 1962 | 6 | Fate Echols | Northwestern | DT |
| 1962 | 12 | Irv Goode | Kentucky | C |
| 1963 | 2 | Jerry Stovall | LSU | S |
| 1963 | 13 | Don Brumm | Purdue | DE |
| 1964 | 9 | Ken Kortas | Louisville | DT |
| 1965 | 12 | Joe Namath | Alabama | QB |
| 1966 | 8 | Carl McAdams | Oklahoma | LB |
| 1967 | 16 | Dave Williams | Washington | WR |
| 1968 | 13 | MacArthur Lane | Utah State | RB |
| 1969 | 19 | Roger Wehrli | Missouri | DB |
| 1970 | 8 | Larry Stegent | Texas A&M | RB |
| 1971 | 17 | Norm Thompson | Utah | CB |
| 1972 | 4 | Ahmad Rashad | Oregon | RB/WR |
| 1973 | 5 | Dave Butz | Purdue | DT |
| 1974 | 7 | J. V. Cain | Colorado | TE |
| 1975 | 21 | Tim Gray | Texas A&M | DB |
| 1976 | 22 | Mike Dawson | Arizona | DT |
| 1977 | 19 | Steve Pisarkiewicz | Missouri | QB |
| 1978 | 15 | Steve Little | Arkansas | K |
| 1978 | 19 | Ken Greene | Washington State | DB |
| 1979 | 8 | Ottis Anderson | Miami | RB |
| 1980 | 6 | Curtis Greer | Michigan | DE |
| 1981 | 5 | E. J. Junior | Alabama | LB |
| 1982 | 16 | Luis Sharpe | UCLA | T |
| 1983 | 17 | Leonard Smith | McNeese State | DB |
| 1984 | 17 | Clyde Duncan | Tennessee | WR |
| 1985 | 18 | Freddie Joe Nunn | Mississippi | LB |
| 1986 | 5 | Anthony Bell | Michigan State | LB |
| 1987 | 6 | Kelly Stouffer | Colorado State | QB |
The Arizona years, 1988–present
