Sonny Randle was a “futures” Draft Pick, meaning that the Chicago Cardinals used their 19^th Round Pick in 1958 to select Wide Receiver Sonny Randle, who was still slated to play one more season with Virginia.  Randle would make the Cardinals as a rookie, but when the team relocated the next year to St. Louis, he was made a starter and would have the best season of his life.

In 1960, Randle led the NFL in Touchdowns (15) with 893 Receiving Yards.  The former Cavalier earned his only First Team All-Pro and began a three-year run of Pro Bowls, punctuated with a career-high 1,158 Yards.  Randle did not win a post-season accolade in 1963, though he was solid with 12 TDs and 1,014 Yards.  He would gain a fourth Pro Bowl in 1965 (845 Yards and 9 TDs).

Randle left for San Francisco, and compiled 60 Touchdowns and 5,438 Yards with the Cardinals.

Dale Meinert was initially drafted into the NFL by the Baltimore Colts, but he never played there, instead playing for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League, where he won two Grey Cups.  He would return to the United States in 1958, joining the Chicago Cardinals becoming a starting Guard.  As the Cardinals relocated to St. Louis in 1960, he was relocated on the gridiron, switching to Middle Linebacker.

Meinert fit better on the defensive side, winning three Pro Bowls and the team MVP in 1961.  As the Cardinals were not a league power in the 1960s, Meinert’s contributions are not as celebrated as they should be, but this man was the team's best interior lineman for years.

A product of Stephen F. Austin, Larry Centers was one of their rare draft picks (5^th Round in 1990) by the Cardinals, but during the Fullback’s first two seasons, you had to wonder why they selected him at all, as he was barely used.

In his third season, it changed for Centers, who played in all 16 Games and had 50 Receptions, showing himself as one of the rare Fullbacks who would see the pigskin from the air far more than on the ground.  He continued increasing his Reception numbers (66 in 1993, 77 in 1994) and had a monster campaign in 1995 with 101 Receptions for 962 Yards and a pair of TDs.  Named to his first Pro Bowl that year, his 101 catches made him the first Back of any kind to have at least 100. 

Centers was even better in 1996.  His receiving numbers were slightly less in two metrics (96 Rec and 786 Yards), but he had career-highs in Receiving Touchdowns (7) and Rushing Yards (425).  Centers had two more solid years for Arizona, but in the 1999 off-season, Centers stint with the Cards ended when he was released due to salary cap considerations.  As a Cardinal, he had nearly 7,000 All-Purpose Yards and 29 Touchdowns.

Calais Campbell will go down in history as being more successful in his post-Cardinal career, but it was in Arizona that his career began.

A Second Round Pick in 2008, Campbell helped Arizona make the Super Bowl in his rookie year, and the year after, he became a starter at Left Defensive End.  Campbell's skills improved slowly, year by year, and in 2014, he went to his first Pro Bowl, with another following the season.  The multi-faceted player did not add a third consecutive Pro Bowl in 2016 but was a Second Team All-Pro, his second and first since 2014.

Campbell signed with Jacksonville in 2017 and, as a Jaguar, won the prestigious Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2019.  As a Cardinal, Campbell accumulated 56.5 Sacks, 107 Tackles for Loss, and 501 Combined Tackles.