Fantasy Football Stock Watch: NFC West risers and fallers
By Drew DeLuca
Fantasy Football Stock Watch: Arizona Cardinals
Second-year quarterback Kyler Murray is licking his chops after the team acquired wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins in a deal that showed veteran running back David Johnson the door. However, some fantasy football analysts are scared off by the change of scenery, citing fears of learning a new offense and meshing with .
Hopkins was a Pro Bowler for the Houston Texans in 2015 as a 23 year-old, despite a quarterback carousel featuring Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallet, T.J. Yates, and Brandon Weeden. The forgettable Alfred Blue was the team’s leading rusher that season, which featured a different offensive coordinator for the third straight year.
If Hopkins can perform at a high level as a young player in those circumstances, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s capable of finishing as the overall WR1 in such a high volume offense that features quarterback play far superior to what he experienced early in his career. He continues to slip into the second round, where fantasy football managers should be drafting him with full confidence.
Ageless legend Larry Fitzgerald stiff-arms Father Time once more as he returns on a one-year deal to will serve as a dependable possession receiver for Murray. This allows budding star Christian Kirk to continue to develop and take advantage of mismatches.
Kirk missed three games, but still saw almost 110 targets last season. He should easily produce 70 receptions, 800 yards, and five touchdowns, with upside for much more. Meanwhile, Andy Isabella, KeeSean Johnson, and Hakeem Butler will strap on their helmets to battle for playing time in an offense that’s not afraid to run four wide receiver sets from time to time.
Kenyan Drake, who officially inherits the starting running back gig after the Hopkins/Johnson trade, is an intriguing high-risk, high-reward option. Given his eye-popping production after arriving in Arizona via trade, I find no fault with those targeting Drake at the 1-2 turn of fantasy football drafts.
Through eight games, Drake was on pace for a 1,628-yard, 56-catch, 16-touchdown season (314.8 fantasy points), which would have tied him with Aaron Jones as the overall RB2 in fantasy football last year. However, going back to his college days at Alabama, Drake has yet to hold down a feature back role for a full season.
Enter Chase Edmonds, who on a smaller scale, has also flashed an ability to produce in this offense. He has clearly earned the confidence of Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury, according to the Cardinals official website:
"“We felt that confident in what Chase brings. When he had his opportunities, he shined, and he continues to shine. He can catch it, run it, block, play special teams, and he’s really bright football-wise. He’s everything you want.”"
“We all feel like he’s a starting running back in this league,” Kingsbury added. A strong hint of a regular role followed, so fantasy football owners should be targeting Edmonds as more than just a late-round handcuff:
"“When you have two that you think can both do it at a high level, you can keep those guys fresh and healthy. That’s what we’re shooting for, finding great roles for both guys and helping the offense be as productive as possible.”"
Eno Benjamin, a Round 7 rookie out of Arizona State, has some value as a low-risk, high-reward budget addition in keeper leagues, simply because of the role he could inherit as a prolific pass catcher if injuries were to strike down Drake or Edmonds this season.
Veteran tight end Charles Clay is gone, leaving an unproven trio of Maxx Williams, Dan Arnold and Darrell Daniels behind to battle for snaps in an offense that uses the tight end position sparingly: Arizona led the league by a wide margin in plays run out of 10 personnel, and the entire tight end grouping saw a total of only 56 targets all year (10.6 percent of the team total).
Clay led Cardinals tight ends with 24 targets in 2019, so there aren’t a lot of scraps for this year’s trio to fight over. With the exception of Dan Arnold’s 6 targets in Week 17, not a single tight end saw more than 3 targets in a game all season, so the position can be safely ignored in all fantasy football leagues.