Of all the players in the NFL who gained the most from a fantasy football standpoint in NFL free agency, it has to be Kenyan Drake of the Arizona Cardinals.
The first wave of NFL free agency has come and gone. While other waves are sure to follow, we certainly learned a lot from all the transactions that went down well over a week ago. Many teams won in free agency, while other teams didn’t do so hot. One team who did very well was the Arizona Cardinals and one player who came out of free agency great was Kenyan Drake.
The Fantasy Footballers looked at the winners and losers from the early part of 2020 NFL free agency. Even though the guys are all Cardinals fans to begin with, they are so right in Drake being a massive winner in the free agency period. Though it is for non-obvious reasons, here is why Drake won so much from a 2020 fantasy standpoint over the last few weeks.
Check out The Fantasy Footballers for all their advice
Drake was traded mid-season to the Cardinals from the Miami Dolphins. He was inserted into the starting lineup and played very well down the stretch for first-year head coach Kliff Kingsbury. His arrival in Glendale was so impactful that it made the Cardinals’ former starting running back David Johnson extremely expendable.
And that is when things got really interesting for the Cardinals. Arizona somehow, someway pulled off a heist for the ages. The Cardinals were able to send Johnson’s massive contract to the Houston Texans for superstar wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and only had to give up a second-round pick. This was highway robbery at its very essence.
With this trade, Drake is the bell-cow back for the Cardinals playing on the franchise tag. He now has an elite wide receiver in Hopkins paired next to a future hall of fame in Larry Fitzgerald, which only makes things easier for Kyler Murray as a quarterback entering year two out of Oklahoma. This will also make running the ball a tad easier for Drake in his second season with the Cardinals.
By not having to give up their first-round pick in the trade with the Texans, Arizona can use its No. 8 overall pick on a much-needed offensive tackle. This will make the Cardinals offense infinitely better. Though a great player already, Drake has the feel of a running back worthy of RB1 status as the featured back for the Cardinals in 2020. Look for him to have a monster year in Arizona.