Dynasty Capsule: Arizona Cardinals
As part of the premium content package, we’re again unveiling dynasty capsules for every team in the NFL leading up to free agency and the NFL Draft. This year, we’re again going to do a follow-up on all the teams after all the free agency and NFL Draft movement to assess the impact of any players teams have gained or lost. Since these capsules are always done as a simple snapshot in time, we figured that was the best way to tackle the off-season and provide ultimate value for our subscribers. All in all, we’ll have close to 500 player profiles found in these capsules over the off-season.
The Cardinals were one of the biggest surprise teams last year as they nearly made the playoffs, despite playing in the toughest division in football. We continue our team capsules with a desert-sized edition of our dynasty capsules.
Quarterbacks
Carson Palmer
For the first time since the Kurt Warner days, the Cardinals actually had a viable signal caller under center. In 2013, Carson Palmer set a career high in passing yards (4,274) and finished with his highest completion percentage (63.3%) since 2007. He finished the year with 24 touchdowns and 22 interceptions, but threw 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions over the team’s final nine games. Turnovers have always haunted Palmer – he doesn’t have a problem throwing the ball up and letting his receivers go get it and with two of the game’s better jump ball receivers, Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd, it’s hard to blame him.
Palmer is 34 years old now and seems like a great fit for Bruce Arians’ vertical game. He should stick around until they can draft and develop his replacement or until the salary cap situation gets so bad they have to move on. Until this happens he remains one of the cheapest low-end QB1 options in fantasy.
Drew Stanton
Stanton hasn’t taken an NFL snap since 2010 when he played for the Detroit Lions, but he seems to have the trust of Bruce Arians as Palmer’s backup. Stanton hasn’t shown anything at the NFL level to make me believe he would be fantasy relevant if Palmer were to go down, even with Fitzgerald and Floyd to throw to.
Ryan Lindley
Lindley will be entering his third NFL season and should be heavily challenged by a rookie from this year’s draft class. He looked awful when forced into action in 2012 and actually holds the NFL record for most passes in a season (141) without a touchdown pass. Yikes!
Running Backs
Andre Ellington
Ellington finished his impressive rookie year with 118 carries for 652 yards rushing, three touchdowns and a very impressive 5.5 yards per carry average behind a sub-par offensive line. He also added 39 receptions for 371 yards and an additional score. With Rashard Mendenhall a free agent and not expected back, Ellington will have the opportunity to step up and prove he is capable of handling feature back duties at 5’9” / 199 lbs. In PPR leagues he will be a solid RB2 in 2014. If he didn’t have six games against the 49ers, Seahawks and Rams each year, he could probably put up even more impressive numbers.
Rashard Mendenhall
How in the heck is this guy only 26 years old? Mendenhall finished his sixth NFL season (his first with the Cardinals) with 217 carries for 687 yards, good for a a disgusting 3.2 yards per carry average and eight touchdowns. He’s now a free agent and not expected back in the desert. He’s merely a volume runner who needs opportunities at the goal line to remain fantasy relevant. His days as a fantasy asset have been over since his ACL tear. Now he’s even hinting at retirement. He’s always been a kindred spirit on par with Ricky Williams.
Stepfan Taylor
Taylor was pretty much an afterthought in his rookie year, only getting 36 carries for 115 yards and no touchdowns, with 14 of those carries coming in week eight. In college he was a battering ram used to grind out yardage and shorten games behind one of the nation’s best offensive lines. He does not have that luxury in Arizona, but he’s expected to backup Andre Ellington in 2014. If comments by GM Steve Keim prove to be true he won’t face competition for his role as backup.
Ryan Williams
Once a hot dynasty name, Williams has been injury riddled throughout his entire NFL career. He was inactive for every game last year and now finds himself on the roster bubble. He’s only 23 years old and could possibly resurface elsewhere, but Bruce Arians wants to build around Andre Ellington and Williams probably won’t take another snap for the Cardinals.
Wide Receivers
Larry Fitzgerald
One of the game’s truly elite wide receivers, Fitzgerald has been a victim of horrendous quarterback over the years. When Bruce Arians came to Arizona and brought Carson Palmer with him, Fitzgerald finally had a quarterback and coach willing to get the ball downfield through the air. Fitzgerald fell just short of 1,000 yard season, as he finished with 954 yards on 82 receptions, but he did score double digit touchdowns for the first time since 2009. As Arians continues his rebuilding of this Cardinals team, look for Fitzgerald to move around the formation a lot more and slowly pass the torch to up and coming star, Michael Floyd. He’s no longer the no-brainer WR1, but is a rock solid WR2 almost guaranteed to improve on last year’s stats.
Michael Floyd
Michael Floyd finished his sophomore season with 66 catches for 1,054 yards and five touchdowns. Even though he only scored five touchdowns, he was targeted a ton in the end zone and narrowly missed many more. Floyd is one of the best young wide receivers in the league and has legit WR1 potential. I look for him to build on his breakout 2013 stats and push to be the focal point in Bruce Arians’ offense as Fitzgerald becomes more Reggie Wayne-like.
Andre Roberts
Now a free agent, Roberts picked a bad team to have his worst season since his rookie year as his stats regressed across the board. He went from 64 catches to 43, 759 yards to 471 and five touchdowns to two. Roberts should have plenty of interest in free agency by teams in need of receiver help like Detroit, Washington, Carolina and Cleveland. I wouldn’t expect the Cardinals to be the highest bidder for his services.
Brittan Golden / Jaron Brown
The best of the rest, Golden and Brown have a combined 15 career catches. Golden is built similarly to Andre Roberts at 5’11” and 186 pounds, but is raw and has a long way to go to get on the field. Brown is 6’2” and 205 pounds with some decent skills. He played his college ball at Clemson. More talent with undoubtedly be added in the draft or lower level free agents.
Tight Ends
Rob Housler
The Jonathan Stewart of tight ends, Housler has been a favorite of dynasty leaguers expecting a breakout yet to materialize. Unfortunately, he’s in tight end purgatory in an Arians’ offense that prefers a blocking tight end to a pass catcher – this is the exact opposite of Housler’s game. He’s a 6’5”, 250 pound seam stretcher in the mold of Jimmy Graham and Aaron Hernandez (with fewer murders). Unless he gets traded or can get on the field as a wide receiver, we won’t see his breakout happen in Arizona. Bruce Arians is looking for the next Heath Miller, not the next Tony Gonzalez. There won’t be a viable fantasy tight end on this roster.
Jake Ballard
Ballard hasn’t been the same since tearing his knee up in the Super Bowl two years ago. He’s no longer a pass catching threat, but is an average blocker at the position. Unfortunately he has a better shot at playing time in this offense than the fantasy asset we have in Rob Housler.
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