2022 Team Previews: Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals Fantasy Preview 2022
All ADP data is courtesy of Fantasy Pros.
** = target in drafts at this ADP
Top 120
**James Conner, RB (ADP: 28): Conner is back in our lives as a top fantasy option after smashing all expectations in 2021. Conner was expected to be in a total timeshare with Chase Edmonds last season, likely getting more score opportunities but less volume. This was a timeshare for a while before Edmonds got hurt, and Conner ran away with the opportunity. He finished the season with 1,127 yards and 18 touchdowns, reestablishing himself as a legitimate RB1 like he had been in Pittsburgh. But was it real? PFF thinks so, grading him as their No. 6 RB in 2022. He was 11th in Effective Yards (968) against just 752 actual rushing yards. Conner is a real dual threat RB, and the Cardinals have allowed Edmonds to leave, giving Conner the keys to the backfield as a bell cow. Conner isn’t your typical, explosive RB1 but he’s proven in his entire career that he’s an excellent fantasy option when healthy. Durability is my only concern this season; he’s never played a full season, and last year was the only time he got to 15. But anyone can get hurt, and his talent is too impressive to be down on. Conner at this ADP is a value.
Kyler Murray, QB (ADP: 57): After an offseason of drama, and questions about his work ethic and desire to improve at reading defenses, Murray’s ceiling has become a bit buried. When he’s right, Murray has the ability to be the No. 1 player in fantasy. While he doesn’t have the size to withstand consistent designed runs like the kind Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson get, Murray’s elite speed makes him a unique threat as a scrambler and establishes a strong rushing floor. In 2020 Murray averaged 51.2 yards per game and scored 11 touchdowns on the ground. And unlike Jackson, Murray has put up pretty big passing numbers, averaging 270 yards per game last year. Murray’s touchdown rate has never been elite, but he has improved in each of his three seasons. Murray is an ascendant QB, whose biggest concerns are durability and weaponry. Regarding the former, Murray has actually only missed three games in his career, all last year. He does, however, get nicked up which in turn has shown a pattern of decline towards the end of seasons. As for the latter, he’ll be without DeAndre Hopkins for six weeks, which is problematic for him. Adding Marquise Brown helps though, and the rushing floor makes him feel both very safe, and very exciting.
Marquise Brown, WR (ADP: 66): Brown reuniting with Murray is exciting and important. Brown’s presence should keep Murray’s production from falling off a cliff without DeAndre Hopkins, and it gives Brown an opportunity to showcase his underrated skills in an offense with some volume. He finally showed for an extended period why he was a first round pick in 2019, putting up his first ever 1,000-yard season (1,008), and he scored six times. For a smallish receiver, Brown has always found the end zone, scoring at least six times in all three NFL campaigns despite somewhat limited opportunity. While Lamar Jackson and Murray are comparable talents at QB, Murray will absolutely throw the ball more, and for the first six weeks of the season Brown will be the undisputed WR1 here. Here’s where we get a little negative. All that volume could expose Hollywood, because he was not good at all vs. man coverage last season, and especially struggled vs. press coverage. Those kinds of struggles do not portend well for a receiver’s viability as a locked in WR1. Honestly, Brown might be a better bet once Hopkins returns to the lineup and resumes drawing defenses’ top DBs. For fantasy purposes, Brown seems to be a bit overdrafted right now, especially since his WR1 status is only temporary. If his ADP dropped, he could become a value, but he’s currently too rich for my blood.
DeAndre Hopkins, WR (ADP: 91): Hopkins is so tricky. He’s long been a truly elite receiver, and arguably the best in the NFL. 2021 broke a streak of four seasons in which he topped 1,100 yards, and he actually was over 1,300 yards in three of them. While he doesn’t have top-end speed, that’s the only area of receiving in which Hopkins has not been a true artist. But…we did detect a whiff of decline in 2021, his age-29 season. He wasn’t like falling off a cliff bad, but the success rates against all coverages dipped to levels we aren’t used to per Reception Perception. Arizona was using him a ton to run slants and curls, and less posts and outs where he could do more damage.
PFF still loved his work, grading him as a Top 15 receiver, but we all saw some red flags if we are being honest with ourselves. Now he’s going to miss Arizona’s first six games, and have Marquise Brown eating a larger percentage of targets than others had previously. Hopkins is still going to be a very good player upon his return, but I’ll just say it: I don’t believe he’s the cream of the crop fantasy wise anymore. Therefore, this ADP is too high knowing you have to sit on him for six weeks and eat up a roster spot that could be spent on an ascendant player on waivers.
Zach Ertz, TE (ADP: 94): We all thought Ertz was cooked entering last season, and we were just wrong. Ertz was playing on par with Dallas Goedert in Philadelphia before the Cardinals traded for him, as they had a sudden and desperate need for quality TE play. Ertz arrived and immediately provided it, averaging 5.1 receptions and 52.2 yards per game. He was, at times, the No. 1 option in the passing game for Kyler Murray, and that should continue at the beginning of 2022 while Hopkins is on sabbatical. Now, Ertz does not possess Top 5 TE upside. Picking Ertz in your draft is resigning yourself to guaranteeing you won’t have a doughnut in your lineup every week, but also means you will almost never have an advantage at the position either. Whether or not you want Ertz on your team really is a reflection of how you play fantasy football. For managers who hate spending up on the high-end TEs, Ertz is a very nice option.
Fantasy Relevant (121-200 ADP)
Rondale Moore, WR (ADP: 170): Moore is a very athletically gifted player, but the way the Cardinals tried to use that was comical. He averaged a meager 8.1 yards per reception, and had a laughable 1.4 yard average depth of target. It’s simply unfair to target a wide receiver that way and expect him to put up usable numbers of any kind. He was massively disappointing to anyone who drafted him with sleeper buzz, but that blame has to go on the Cardinals’ offensive minds who didn’t give him a chance to show what he could do. Now, per Reception Perception, Moore wasn’t very good on the rare occasions he was asked to do something other than run a screen. He was a below average receiver on nine routes, posts, digs, outs and curls, ranked in the 17th percentile of receivers vs. man, and just barely cleared the 10th percentile vs. press coverage. So maybe he’s just not good. We will need to see him used more liberally as a real wide receiver to know for sure though, and the opportunity is there with Christian Kirk vacating the slot. I’m in no rush to draft Moore, but at this ADP it’s a fine lottery ticket.
Sleeper Class (200 & later)
Darrel Williams, RB (ADP: 210): Williams is a pass-catching RB in an offense that used Chase Edmonds a lot. Williams isn’t going to see anything close to Edmonds’ usage though, especially since James Conner is also a quality receiver out of the backfield. We will see Williams play at times on passing downs, but he’s never going to get high usage in that capacity without an injury to Conner, nor can he assume control of the backfield if Conner got hurt. He’s just not going to have enough usage to be fantasy relevant in any scenario that doesn’t involve multiple long-term injuries, so he shouldn’t be drafted, even at this late ADP.
Eno Benjamin, RB (ADP: 232): Benjamin looks like the clear handcuff to Conner, and while I typically don’t advocate for drafting handcuffs, there’s an argument for Benjamin’s value. Conner has been known to get nicked up, and the Cardinals run the ball a ton near the goal line. I won’t say he’s a must-roster for Conner managers, but they have my blessing to draft him.
A.J. Green, WR (ADP: 255): Green is still around, and he put up a shocking 15.7 yards per catch last year. Still, the old days of Green’s dominance are long gone. They were definitely fun, but there is just no upside here any longer, and any week in which you put him in your starting lineup is unlikely to be an enjoyable one.
Trey McBride, TE (ADP: N/S): McBride, a rookie out of Colorado State, put up some eye-catching numbers as a senior. He caught 90 passes for 1,121 yards, which are crazy stats for a college tight end. His one touchdown is also really weird, but that’s probably just due to playing with a nondescript Mountain West Conference QB. McBride is stuck behind Ertz for now, but if Ertz gets hurt or grows old overnight, McBride could swoop in with some Pat Freiermuth-esque play and put himself on the map. Don’t draft him, but pay attention.