The Arizona Cardinals 29-year-old WR DeAndre Hopkins, also known as “Nuk”, is coming off a career-low season in receptions (42) and receiving yards (572). It should be well noted that D-Hop missed a career-high (7 games) last season. Nonetheless, it should be noted that Hopkins still had (57.2) YPG, which was his worth receiving yard per game number since his rookie season in 2013. There are many fantasy analysts that are concerned about Hopkins’s outlook in AZ. He may be closer to 30 years old, coming off a down season, with a confusing QB, but I believe the “future HOF WR” has a bright outlook.

Hopkins is currently ranked as the 24th WR in dynasty PPR via Fantasy Pros. I believed his value is slightly better than that ranking. I still love Hopkins ability and juice right now. He received a career-high 115 receptions in 2020 (115) and I expect him to be very involved as a healthy WR in 2022. Plus, he recorded at least 104 catches from 2018 to 2020. I honestly expect Hopkins to benefit from Christian Kirk’s exit (and AJ Green’s exit), regardless of Rondale Moore’s role on the team.

Hopkins is a magical player and he will find ways to be special with Kyler Murray in 2022. He may not have been a target machine with Kirk last season (77 receptions) and AJ Green (54 receptions) in his time last season, but he was still a reliable catching machine and he notched 8 touchdowns in 10 games in 2021. I expect a healthy Kyler Murray (who missed three games last season) will help Hopkins unveil a Top 8 PPR season in 2022. He unleashed a Top 4 season in 2020 and I feel the highly motivated Cardinals QB-HC will lean on Hopkins to be unearthly talented in 2022.

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The Arizona Cardinals have slowly crafted a roster full of talented young players. With hope that they will build on a somewhat lackluster 2020 season that saw them finish with an 8-8 record, expectations will be high for this team heading into the  2021 season. 

In order to improve, it will take contributions from players, specifically players that haven’t broken out into stardom. Here are two players on the Cardinals that are primed for a breakout season on either offense or defense. 

Offense: James Conner, Running Back

James Conner is new to the running back room in Arizona. He signed with the Cardinals this offseason and will hope to jumpstart his career.
After a very strong 2018 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers where Conner reached the end zone 13 times and had nearly 1,500 yards from scrimmage, Conner has yet to return to this form. 

In 2019, Conner appeared in just 10 games but still found his way into the end zone seven times. The difference in 2019 was that Conner proved to be a receiving threat. Three of Conner’s touchdowns came through the air. Even with the scoring success, Conner produced only 715 yards from scrimmage. 

Conner’s 2020 season was not much better than his 2019. In the 13 games that he played in, he reached the end zone just six times. There were positives that came along with it though. He still proved to be a threat in the receiving game and while not scoring through the air, he was still able to haul in 35 receptions. 

Conner has just turned 26 years old and choosing to sign with the Cardinals could be just what his career needs. 

Conner will be joining an offense that is led by quarterback Kyler Murray and star wide receiver Deandre Hopkins. Conner will also share a backfield with running back Chase Edmonds. 

Edmonds had his ups and downs over the course of last season and there is no guarantee that there will be a clear lead back in Arizona. Conner and Edmonds could see a clean split in carries and whichever running back that has the hot hand will be who is fed the ball more. 

While there will be pressure for Conner to perform, the Cardinals strong offense will allow for him to ease his way onto the field. 

Kyler being the QB1 will also allow for Conner to play with a quarterback that is also heavily involved in the run game. This will allow for more opportunities for Conner. If all goes to plan, he will be back to his 2018 form and be a real playmaker for this young Cardinals Team. 

Defense: Byron Murphy Jr, Cornerback

Byron Murphy Jr. will be entering his third season with the Cardinals. The former second-round pick has spent almost all of his time in Arizona as the team’s primary slot cornerback. He has made his presence felt at the slot corner spot and has become one of the best in the league at that spot. 

There is potential that Murphy could spend more time playing outside corner. With the addition of veteran corner Malcolm Butler and the departure of Patrick Peterson, the number two corner spot is up for grabs. Could Murphy potentially earn that spot? It could be his for the taking. 

In year two, Murphy looked much different than he did during his rookie season. When comparing the two seasons, stat wise Murphy may look as if he regressed. During his rookie season, Murphy racked up 78 tackles and one interception. In comparison, Murphy had just 51 tackles and zero interceptions in his second year. 

But, this doesn’t tell the whole story. Murphy’s on field performance changed dramatically during year two. In comparison to year one, where Murphy allowed nine touchdowns in pass coverage. Murphy allowed just two during his second season. He also added two sacks and, overall, was much more of a threat to both the pass game and run game. 

All signs point to Murphy taking a much bigger role in year three. He should be prepared for this role as he has made great strides to being a top-tier corner in the NFL. 

The post Arizona Cardinals that could break out in 2021 appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Gladys Louise Tyler

The 8-8 Arizona Cardinals were in the playoff hunt for part of the 2020 season. This is true even though head coach Kliff Kingsbury was 3-9 against the NFC West, including a 0-4 record against Sean McVay’s Los Angeles Rams. 

The Cardinals started 2-0 in the West, only to end on a four-game losing streak in the division. 

They were 5-2 before ending the season on a 3-6 bender.

There were a few reasons for the losing streak:

1. Wide receiver Christian Kirk looked the part of the number two wide receiver until the final eight games. In the last eight, he managed a paltry 22 receptions, 234 yards, and zero touchdowns.
2. Quarterback Kyler Murray got injured in Week 11 against the Seattle Seahawks. After that, the offense scores 30 plus points only once the rest of the season.
3. Linebacker Chandler Jones incurred a bicep injury in Week 5.  He ended his season with 11 total tackles and one sack. Without Jones, the Cardinals’ defense gave up close to 28 points a game on the road.

There is also the possibility that Kingsbury’s offensive prowess is over-rated, but that could be an overstatement as the offense worked for the first half of the season.

But this year the Cardinals will not only reverse their fortunes within their division, but win the NFC West outright.

At first glance, it seems like an improbable statement. The NFC West is the most competitive division in the NFL. But it is possible, and here is why:

QUARTERBACK KYLER MURRAY

Murray showed improvement until his Week 11 injury. He finished the season with a completion percentage that was 2.8% better than the previous year.  He threw for six more touchdowns and had 40 more rushing attempts.  The rushing attempts elevated his rushing touchdowns by seven compared to last year. 

WIDE RECEIVER DEANDRE HOPKINS

There is no doubt the addition of Hopkins boosted the offense. Hopkins finished the season with a career-high 71.9% catch rate.  He was targeted 160 times and had six touchdowns.

This being his second year with Murray should make the pairing that much more formidable and the duo should put up huge numbers in 2021. 

ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION

This might be the most important reason the Cardinals are set to win the division this year.  Their free agency acquisitions are more of a “win-now” mentality than let’s rebuild for the future.

Although they lost both Patrick Peterson and Kenyan Drake in free agency, they gained players (who, if they remain healthy) will help them win now.

• Running back James Conner
• Wide receiver AJ Green
• Defensive end JJ Watt
• Cornerback Malcolm Butler
• Kicker Matt Prater

And yes, the NFC West did make some splash acquisitions. The Los Angeles Rams acquired quarterback Matthew Stafford for the win-now mentality.  The San Francisco 49ers obtained Trey Lance for the future, and well, the Seattle Seahawks attempted to upgrade their defense, with cornerbacks Ahkello Witherspoon and Pierre Desire and defensive end Aldon Smith. 

THE SCHEDULE

Depending on your “go-to” source, the Cardinals either have the fourth most difficult schedule or the 13^th.  If you go by the Cbssports.com strength of schedule, the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks will face a harder schedule than the Cardinals. 

CARDINALS 2021 SCHEDULE

WEEK 1 @ TENNESSEE TITANS

WEEK 2 v MINNESOTA VIKINGS

WEEK 3 @ JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS

WEEK 4 @ LOS ANGELES RAMS

WEEK 5 v SAN FRANCISCO NINERS

WEEK 6 @ CLEVELAND BROWNS

WEEK 7 v HOUSTON TEXANS

WEEK 8 v GREEN BAY PACKERS

WEEK 9 @ SAN FRANCISCO NINERS

WEEK 10 v CAROLINA PANTHERS

WEEK 11 @ SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

WEEK 12—NOV 28 BYE WEEK

WEEK 13 @ CHICAGO  BEARS

WEEK 14 v LOS ANGELES RAMS

WEEK 15 @ DETROIT LIONS

WEEK 16 v INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

WEEK 17 @ DALLAS COWBOYS

WEEK 18 v SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

WINNING THE NFC WEST

This is Kingsbury show me year.  His team has to improve against the West foes, including the zero wins against the Rams.  The Niners will have the slew of players that were injured back; the question remains it Trey Lance or Jimmy Garoppolo under center this season.  The Seahawks are, well, the Seahawks, doing little to appease quarterback Russell Wilson’s concerns; they remain who we thought they were until proven otherwise.

The path through the NFC West appears to go through California.  If the Cardinals can break even with their NFC West rivals, there is no reason they cannot overtake the NFC West championship belt (and if there isn’t one, there should be).

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