Fantasy Football 2021 Team Previews: Arizona Cardinals

Arizona Cardinals Fantasy Preview 2021

All ADP data is courtesy of Fantasy Pros.

** = target in drafts at this ADP

Top 120

**Deandre Hopkins, WR (ADP: 17): Hopkins’ stock has dipped just a bit, as he’s checking in these days as the WR4. While his TDs have been a tad light the last two years – seven and six, respectively, after being in the double digits the two seasons prior – few, if any, WRs will see as much opportunity as D-Hop. The Cardinals are one of the fastest-paced offenses in football, with a budding superstar at QB, and Hopkins is one of the most targeted players in football. He’s seen at least 150 targets in six consecutive seasons, gone over 1,300 yards in three of the last four seasons, and caught 100+ passes for the last three seasons in a row. Simply put, Hopkins is money in the bank. Don’t overthink it, this is a value.

Kyler Murray, QB (ADP: 39): Murray is one of the most exciting players you could own in fantasy because he’s one of the most prolific rushing QBs we’ve ever seen. Murray isn’t quite the rusher Lamar Jackson is, but he’s damn close, and statistically it’s hard to see the difference. Murray rushed 133 times for 819 yards and 11 touchdowns, more than making up for his underwhelming 4.7% TD percentage in 2020. If you want to nitpick Murray, you’d like to see more passing yards per game (248.7) with the weaponry he’s been surrounded with, and through two seasons he’s posted sub-5.0% TD percentages. With his rushing baseline it really doesn’t matter, and he has significant room to grow as a passer, but it’s a bit hard for me to justify his ADP being ahead of Jackson’s. I likely won’t own Murray much due to his high ADP at a position I typically wait for, but snapping up Murray here probably won’t be a team crusher. That’s how safe his rushing baseline makes him.

Chase Edmonds, RB (ADP:62): Edmonds is a popular breakout pick because he’s one of the best receiving backs in football. PFF graded him as the eighth-best receiving back in the NFL last year, and he caught 52 passes and scored four touchdowns through the air. As a rusher, he didn’t see as much work as many wanted, but he was efficient to the tune of 4.6 yards per carry. The problem is that the Cardinals didn’t trust him to handle a big rushing workload, and I don’t believe anything has changed. They signed Kenyan Drake to a sizable contract last year to be the lead back, and with Drake gone, they invested in James Conner. Edmonds has five rushing touchdowns in the last two seasons, and zero of them came from closer than 20 yards. While we are dreaming on Edmonds’ explosiveness translating into a three-down role, he’s not going to provide value on this ADP without insane TD efficiency. I don’t feel comfortable betting on that, especially when he’s primarily a receiver.

**James Conner, RB (ADP: 97): Conner, on the other hand, is a guy everyone’s down on and they shouldn’t be. Injuries have been a problem for the last couple of seasons, but when Conner plays he’s very effective. He only appeared in 13 games in 2020, but still averaged 4.3 yards per attempt, and scored six rushing touchdowns behind one of football’s worst run blocking offensive lines. His skillset is similar to Drake’s, and Drake earned 239 carries without even looking that great. Conner doesn’t have anything close to Edmonds’ big play potential, but Drake was able to plow his way to 10 touchdowns in this offense and nearly 1,000 yards on volume alone. If the Cards use him the same way – and it makes all the sense in the world to do so – then Conner is going to be a STEAL as the RB37.

Fantasy Relevant (121-200 ADP)

A.J. Green, WR (ADP: 172): The last time Green looked like a star was 2017, so it makes sense that this longtime top flight WR is now barely clinging to any kind of relevance. He’s earned praise in camp, but this is actually not a place I believe is conducive to a fantasy relevant bounce back. Yes, he may help Murray as a real life QB, but Hopkins dominates targets to such an extent that Green is likely going to have to score a ton of touchdowns to matter. Green saw his yards per reception drop by three yards from 2018 to last year, signaling a loss of athleticism, which is expected at age 33. It would be cool as hell to see Green turn back the clock, but it’s been so long since we’ve seen him look great that I’m willing to miss out. Even this deep in drafts, I want more of a chance for a breakout, and those types of players exist on this very team.

Rondale Moore, WR (ADP: 192): Moore, a surprising second rounder out of Purdue, has people’s attention based on his draft capital. He’s been banged up often in college, not a great omen, but as a freshman he went off for 114 receptions, 1,258 yards and 12 touchdowns. He could wind up developing a connection with Murray and providing value, so at this late an ADP have at it. I just don’t see there being major upside with Hopkins’ target share.

Sleeper Class (200 & later)

Christian Kirk, WR (ADP: 224): Kirk is entering his fourth season, and while I am giving up on the superstar breakout, Kirk’s talent flashed quite a bit in 2020. He finished with six touchdowns on only 48 receptions, and he nearly averaged 13 yards per catch. Kirk is an efficiency guy, as he tends to be targeted deep down the field, and has dealt with target hounds his whole career. I do believe Kirk has the talent to be a weekly WR2, but he’d need a step up in volume, and I don’t think he’s going to get it, despite playing in one of the league’s top offenses. He’ll be playable in any given week, but unreliable in all of them.

Defense/Special Teams (ADP: 265)

This D/ST has some big time names like Chandler Jones and JJ Watt, and might be the type of D/ST that gives up a lot of yards and points, but also racks up turnovers and TDs. In the NFC West, they’ll have rough games, but they’re pretty interesting to me on a streaming basis.