New addition to Cardinals’ draft board: Grades for character

8:29 PM ET

TEMPE, Ariz. — There’s a new column on the Arizona Cardinals’ draft board this year.

After debating evaluating a prospect’s character on and off the field last year, the Cardinals decided to make both attributes part of their scouting process this year. Along with grading physical and mental traits, the Cardinals have assigned a letter grade to a player’s football character and overall character.

“Those two issues were standing there staring you in the face,” Bruce Arians said of incorporating character grades for each of the Cardinals’ draft prosects. AP Photo/Michael Conroy

Coach Bruce Arians said Tuesday the character grades have “really” helped the Cardinals scouting department build its board of the top 120 prospects.

“Those two issues were standing there staring you in the face,” Arians said. “That was a great idea.”

The Cardinals discussed the idea of adding a character grade during the evaluation process leading up to the 2015 draft but didn’t implement it. This year, every prospect on their top 120 is given a grade from A to F based on both football and off-field character.

Arizona general manager Steve Keim called it a “checks and balances system.”

“There may be players who have had some issues in the past,” he said. “Off the field, a lot of these college kids makes mistakes and it’s a great …

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