Yesterday the Cardinals started by transition tagging Kenyan Drake. Drake burst onto the scene after he was added for peanuts midseason last year. Drake is just 26 years old, and a dual threat running back. The perfect mold for a back in Kingsbury's offense. Drake joined the Cardinals and immediately was given 14 or more touches in every game. He would go on to put up 643 rushing yards, adding 28 receptions for 171 yards in 8 games and 8 rushing tds, including a game against Cleveland in which he had 23 touches for 146 yards, and 4 total tds. The Cardinals put up just 38 points on offense that day with Drake being responsible for 24 of them. Pretty impressive for a guy who had just arrived 7 weeks before.
After the move to transition tag Drake they went ahead and resigned Larry Fitzgerald to a 1 year deal. Fitzgerald is heading into his 17th season in Arizona. Through the previous 16 years Fitzgerald has been rock solid, never posting less than 58 receptions, 734 yards, and 2 tds. The last 5 years have displayed how little Fitz has dropped off. From 2015-2017, he had three straight years with 107 or more catches, 1,023 yards or more and 6 or more tds. With Steve Wilks, and now Kingsbury running the show thr past two years Fitzgerald still managed to put up solid numbers, while shifting a bit more into the slot. In 2018 with poor qb play, and two different coordinators he still had 69 receptions, 734 yards and 6 tds. Then after being paired with Kingsbury, and Murray he again put up a great year. 75 receptions for 804 yards and 4 tds. Fitzgerald is just one of those ageless players who works too hard and expects too much of himself to sign a contract if he knows he can't continue at a high level. Fitzgerald is coming back because he knows he still has more left to give, and wants to finally put a ring on his finger. Which is exactly why the Cardinals made their last move of the day.
The trade that stunned the world, Arizona ships out David Johnson, a 2020 second round pick, and a 2021 4th round pick to Houston for WR DeAndra Hopkins, and a 2020 4th round pick. The fact that this trade basically required just a second round pick to pry one of the best wideouts in the game from his former team is nothing short of mindblowing. Pairing him with Murray, Fitzgerald, Christian Kirk, and Kenyan Drake should make for an explosive offense. All of these guys create mismatches for the defense, and their 3 wideout set will be nearly unstoppable. I for one believe this move will lead Fitzgerald and Kirk to having monster seasons because Hopkins will draw double coverage.
With day 1 in the books I don't think anyone expected many more large moves from the Cardinals but they decided they weren't done yet. This time they addressed their defense by way of signing Jordan Phillips a defensive tackle who is headed into his 6th season after spending the last two years in Buffalo. In 2019 he was handed starting snaps, 9 games actually which helped him produce 31 tackles, 9.5 sacks, and 1 forced fumble. Prior to 2019 he had flashed some ability to push the pocket with 5.5 sacks, 14 passes defended, and 1 int. To me this is not a flash in the pan but a guy finally getting an opportunity to start and play often.
In two days the Cardinals have dramatically affected their offense and aided a suffering defense which has set them up to draft the best player available. The Cardinals head into the draft with just 6 draft picks now. Which is not enviable, but considering they have filled their biggest needs they should have enough draft capitol to still acquire some players that will help the team.
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