Fantasy Football: The Cardinals Backfield Just Got Messier

This morning ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe reported that the Arizona Cardinals will be acquiring running back Kenyan Drake from the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a conditional draft pick.

Drake, 25, was a third-round pick by Miami back in 2016 but never really seemed to get a legitimate shot at being their workhorse back despite his explosiveness and ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. Regardless, Drake was very effective for the Dolphins on the limited touches he got during his 3 and 1/2 year tenure with Miami.

In terms of fantasy football, this trade means little to nothing in terms of Miami’s backfield. As everyone knows, Miami’s offense has been anemic in 2019. They don’t have much of a running game or passing attack, so hanging your hat on the fact that Mark Walton or Kallen Ballage become fantasy stars is idiotic. You never wanted to start Kenyan Drake when he was with the Fins, so why would you ever want to start worse talents in Ballage and Walton?

As for the Cardinals, this means a lot. First off, David Johnson and Chase Edmonds are both injured significantly enough that Arizona went out and traded for a running back even though he is a free agent after this season. They may just be trying to upgrade their offensive attack but that makes no sense as a rebuilding team that appears to have very little chance at making the postseason. But just because I don’t believe doesn’t mean that Arizona themselves don’t.

The facts are hard to ignore. David Johnson has been banged up since the Cardinals game against the Cincinnati Bengals, and Edmonds looks to be out a couple weeks after hurting his hamstring yesterday. So if you are an owner of Johnson, Edmonds or both, you should either try and go get Kenyan Drake for the time being or pivot to another backfield to count on for your fantasy points. Right now the latter seems more enticing especially with two matchups against the San Francisco 49ers coming up.

-Jarrod Ribaudo (@Jribs53)