Projecting Arizona Cardinals skill position depth chart and fantasy impact

The Arizona Cardinals went 8-8 last season, finishing third in the NFC West. They are a team with aspirations for more, but they do have an extremely tough division to navigate. The Seahawks have Russell Wilson and crew and are coming off a division win and a 12-4 record. The 49ers were destroyed by injuries last season and will get Nick Bosa, Jimmy Garoppolo and newcomer Trey Lance along with many others back. The Rams likely upgraded their offense by bringing in Matthew Stafford and we already know how tough their Aaron Donald/Jalen Ramsey led defense can be.

Quarterback

1. Kyler Murray
2. Colt McCoy
3. Chris Streveler

Running back

1. James Conner
2. Chase Edmonds
3. Jonathan Ward

Wide receiver

1. DeAndre Hopkins
2. A.J. Green
3. Christian Kirk
4. Larry Fitzgerald (?)
5. Rondale Moore (R)
6. KeeSean Johnson
7. Andy Isabella

Tight end

1. Maxx Williams
2. Darrell Daniels
3. Ian Bunting
4. Eno Benjamin

Biggest offseason changes

Kenyan Drake is gone and James Connor was added and will fill his roster spot. We still don’t know what Larry Fitzgerald is up to, but the Cardinals appear to be moving on without him, as they brought in veteran A.J. Green in free agency and rookie Rondale Moore with the 49th pick in the NFL draft.

Biggest questions for fantasy football

The Cardinals are pretty set at their top offensive skill positions. We know Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins will be the leaders while A.J. Green and Christian Kirk have job security as well. The running backs are a question mark as far as playing time goes, but both should see work.

James Conner will likely be the early down back, but we know how difficult it is for him to stay on the field. Knowing that, Kliff Kingsbury and company will likely split work fairly evenly between him and Chase Edmonds. Like most teams in the NFL, they’ll want to spread the workload out and push a back into a more specialized role. Conner’s upside is still good, as he should get goalline work and while still being used as a receiver while Edmonds would be the third-down back. But, if Conner misses time, Edmonds would see a bump.

Larry Fitzgerald’s status is a question mark, but even if he does end up playing, he would likely see an even more diminished role than last season as long as A.J. Green can stay healthy. The rookie Rondale Moore will probably take a backseat as he gets up to speed and would be hard-pressed to see a full complement of snaps and touches behind Hopkins, Green and Kirk.

In the end, Murray and Hopkins will once again be Top 5 in fantasy projections, while the rest will have their days in the fantasy sun, but the ball will likely be spread around enough for consistency to be hard to come by.