Summer Sleeper: Arizona Cardinals

Mo Brewington Posted On September 10, 2017

In our annual 32-part Summer Sleeper series, DLF scribes identify a lightly-touted player on each NFL roster who may be worthy of your consideration. Our subjects all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but each merits a bit of in-depth discussion here in the Premium Content section.

To help everybody along, we are going to be categorizing our sleepers under one of three headings:

Super Deep Sleepers – Players who aren’t roster-worthy in 12-team leagues, but are still worth keeping an eye on.
Deep Sleepers – An end of the roster player who is more often than not on the waiver wire in 12-team leagues.
Sleeper – A likely rostered player who makes for a good trade target. Their startup ADP puts them out of the top-175 or so.

Because we aren’t going give you the likes of mainstream sleepers, most of these players will undoubtedly fizzle. All we are asking is for you to keep an open mind and perhaps be willing to make room for one of these players on your bench. You never know when the next Adam Thielen is going to spring up. Feel free to add your own thoughts about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own in the comments below. We end the Summer rite of passage with a look at the Arizona Cardinals.

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Chad Williams, WR ARI
Category: Super Deep Sleeper

“The Boss” sent me an email last week, reminding me I had not submitted my ‘’Summer Sleeper’’ article yet for the Cardinals. I was shocked, thinking I had already submitted my story on the Cards’ Chad Williams. It turns out, the Williams story I wrote was actually part of our rookie SWOT series. In the end, this may be a good thing.

After drawing praise from his offensive coordinator over the summer, Williams suffered through a case of shin splints which cost him valuable practice time. Then, Cardinals’ head coach Bruce Arians called Williams out, citing his inconsistent play and poor conditioning as reasons he was falling behind in camp. Naturally, this caused Williams’ standing in the fantasy community to slide amongst the ranks of the undraftable.

cwilliams

The problem is I had only heard (or read) second-hand accounts of Arians’ beratement of Williams. The legendarily stubborn coach is known for housing young players in his doghouse for the better part of their rookie seasons. It appeared as if Williams had earned a stay in “Le Caza el perro de Arians.” (I don’t speak a lick of Spanish. My sincerest apologies to all the readers who do.)

Then, I stumbled across an article from Cardinals’ beat reporter Kent Somers, in which Arians tells the reporter, “If injury happened, [to one of the Cards other wideouts], he (Williams) would be ready… Once you get into game plans, that offense shrinks so much. You’ll study 100 plays instead of 1,000 plays. And you’ll practice them. It’s so much easier for them.”

This didn’t sound like the level of indignation being reported on social media regarding Arians’ displeasure with Williams’ performance. Later, in a mid-August presser, the coach was asked if he envisioned Williams being ready to play at some point this season, as opposed to having his third round draft pick sit the bench all year. Arians’ responded that Williams would likely be ready to see the field on offense sometime around Thanksgiving. He added Williams could possibly find a role on special teams in the meantime.

Narratives are the damndest things in the run-up to an NFL season. It takes nothing more than a brief quote from a coach, or shaky preseason play to get a handful of writers telling their readers “Player X” is a lost cause and should be avoided at all cost.

For those of us who watch our own film, we’ve often made our judgments about such players before these narratives take flight. If you’ve made your assumptions based on a sound football logic, there’s no reason to suddenly discount a player you had pegged as a potential breakout candidate because he struggled in training camp and looked like, well, a rookie.

There’s no reason to doubt Arian’s assertion of Williams’ skills. If the coach feels he’s not ready to play for his team, that’s it. He’s not ready to play for the Cardinals. However, dynasty owners have to decide if Williams is a player they can harbor on their rosters for half a season, in hopes that he’ll become a contributing member of Arizona’s offense. And this is where he becomes a candidate for the final “Summer Sleeper” article.

From a talent standpoint, the decision is an easy one for me. Williams will be among my long-term stashes in leagues where I can afford to place him on a taxi squad, or already have a strong enough receiver group to withstand a WR5-6 who gives me nothing, potentially for the entire 2017 season. Arians makes a case for Williams being able to contribute should one of the wideouts ahead of him on the depth chart get injured, which is a fairly compelling argument as well. John Brown is prone to getting knicked up. Larry Fitzgerald — although he’s never started fewer than 13 games — has seen the Earth revolve around the Sun nearly 35 times. The law of averages, alone, says Fitz is overdue for a stint on I.R.

As for Arizona’s other wideouts, Jaron Brown has never been an eye-popping talent. J.J. Nelson’s speed gives him some appeal, entering his third pro season. Nelson may be a more immediate contributor, than Jaron Brown, yet he’s still not a player you should comfortable spending more than a waiver claim on.

Luckily, Arizona has the worst tight end situation in league, which is a plus for every pass catcher on the depth chart. However, the player who will garner the second-most targets on this team remains David Johnson, as he monopolizes touches as a runner and receiver.

On top of all this, Fitzgerald, and both of the Browns will be unrestricted free agents in 2018. Who’s to say either Brown chooses to return to Arizona next year? There’s no telling where these players could wind up, as Fitz could choose to call it a career after his 14th pro season. With Carson Palmer also looking at the front door, the Cardinals’ offense could face major upheaval once this season comes to a close.

Ultimately, if you’re looking for a long-term dynasty wideout in the desert, Williams should be considered among the top candidates. The on-field reasons are listed in the SWOT article referenced above. But as dynasty owners, your decisions can not simply revolve around the things which take place on the field of play. You have to consider the situation, as a whole.

Even if Williams winds up spending 2017 on the bench — which he won’t — this roster is begging him to make a claim for a starting role in 2018. His odds of becoming a top three target in the passing game are high. The talk from this preseason about the strength of his hands, and the physicality with which he plays is still relevant.

Go back and watch the Grambling tape. Williams is a dominant No.1 receiver, even if unrefined. After a month of being knocked off his pedestal, Williams will likely be waiting, on your waiver wire. When his opportunity to play comes, he will shine — racking up PPR points in the process.

Do not miss the boat when it happens.

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