NFL Predictions 2020: One surprise rookie gem who will star for each team
By Randy Gurzi
Arizona Cardinals: Leki Fotu, NT
This season, the Arizona Cardinals made some huge news as they landed wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins in a lopsided trade with the Houston Texans. The move gives them a great receiving corps now with “Nuk” Hopkins, Larry Fitzgerald, Christian Kirk, and Andy Isabella. That’s a lot of firepower for second-year quarterback Kyler Murray to work with.
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The question is how they will do on defense. Thankfully for the Cards, they did their best to add talent to that side of the ball as well as they used their top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft on Clemson linebacker/safety Isaiah Simmons.
This move was risky as they needed an offensive tackle, but Simmons was the best player on the board. They lucked out when they still landed Josh Jones later on in the draft, giving them a tackle capable of helping keep the defenders off Murray’s back.
As solid as those two selections were, the most bang for their buck might not have come until their first of two fourth-round picks, which was where they landed Utah nose tackle Leki Fotu. A massive player at 6-foot-5 and 330-pounds, Fotu is a menace on the defensive line and simply cannot be blocked by one person alone.
His ability to wreck an offensive gameplan was on full display for the Utes for several years and it was a bit of a surprise to see him fall as far as he did, even with the fact that the nose tackle is a relatively undervalued position.
Fotu is a player who will quickly become a fan-favorite and while he won’t fill up the stat sheets, his disruptiveness will shine on film as he will help everyone around him get better matchups due to the attention he commands.