Purdue wide receiver Rondale Moore was drafted in the second round of the 2021 NFL draft, at pick 49 by the Arizona Cardinals. His unique skillset will excite potential fantasy managers, but what should we expect in the coming season and beyond?
Profile & College Production
There’s no other way to say it, Rondale Moore is a freak athlete. The Purdue receiver ran an unofficial 4.29 40-yard dash at his pro-day and recorded a relative athletic score of 9.33, according to Kent Lee Platte’s Relative Athletic Score. This ranked eighth amongst wide receivers in the 2021 rookie class. Although he stands at just 5-foot 7, there should be no worries about his durability in the league. Despite his size, Moore is an explosive, powerful athlete who has elite run after the catch ability, can break tackles and is difficult to bring down in the open field.
Rondale Moore’s college career started with a bang, breaking out as a freshman. In his first season at Purdue at just age 18, Moore reeled in 114 receptions, amounting to 1,258 yards and 12 touchdowns. In his very first game at college, Moore amassed a staggering 313 total yards (including special teams) and two touchdowns against Northwestern.
If you want to see his skill set on full display, look no further than his performance against Ohio State that season. In total, he accrued 194 total yards from scrimmage as well as making two trips to the endzone and adding 58 total yards from kickoff and punt returns. That season he recorded seven games with at least 100 receiving yards and just two with less than 70 receiving yards – an astonishing achievement for a true freshman.
His following two years at Purdue, however, were both cut short. Moore played in just seven games over the final two years in Indiana, curtailed by injuries and COVID. He showed more than enough in his first year to demonstrate his abilities – becoming the seventh wide receiver taken in the 2021 draft.
The Short-Term
Moore arrives in Arizona with an immediate opportunity to produce given the other offensive weapons for Kyler Murray this year. DeAndre Hopkins was the focal point for the team last season, recording 115 catches from 160 targets, resulting in 1,407 receiving yards and six touchdowns. This represented the second-most targets in the league and an impressive 29.4% of the Cardinals’ target share. It is very unclear, however, who the second receiver on the team will be given that only one other player had more than 500 receiving yards – Christian Kirk. And although Arizona has brought in veteran wide receiver AJ Green on a one-year $6.8m contact, his best years are clearly behind him. All this leaves an opening for Moore to get onto the field.
In recent years, Arizona has struggled to build a competent receiving corps through the draft, after taking the likes of Christian Kirk, Andy Isabella, and Hakeem Butler – all of whom have been underwhelming since entering the league. Beyond DeAndre Hopkins, there appears to be an absence of high-quality skill-position players, which therefore gives Moore an opportunity to become an instant contributor in his rookie season. Given the Cardinals did not take a running back in the draft, we could even see Rondale Moore take some carries and jet sweeps. Over the course of his college career, Moore had 30 rushing attempts gaining 248 yards, an average of 8.3 yards per attempt, scoring three times.
Given Moore’s unique skillset we should expect Kingsbury to look to use him creatively in the offense early on. It would therefore not be a surprise to see Moore become a useable flex-piece for fantasy managers by the end of the 2021 season, given his abilities as a ‘swiss-army knife’-type of player and the current lack of competition in this offense.
🚨30 Days, 30 Prospects🚨
— Nate Christian (@NateNFL) April 18, 2021
#13 – Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue
5′ 7″ and only 181 pounds, but can squat 600lbs. That about sums it up. Moore has impressed since the moment he stepped on the college field, will that success translate to the NFL? ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/FIaKVFW0P5
Long-Term Prospects
Moore also looks to have promising long-term prospects with the Cardinals. He should have a good level of security on the team given the high draft capital and he will also be tied to a rising young star in quarterback Kyler Murray, who does not turn 24 until August, for the foreseeable future.
While this wide receiver room may look slightly crowded at the moment, there is a clear opening for Moore in 2022 with both Kirk and AJ Green set to be unrestricted free agents after this coming season. Although Moore clearly does not project as an ‘alpha’-type receiver in the NFL but his abilities with the ball in his hands are undeniable and there is no reason why he can’t be a fantasy-relevant receiver in the league in the coming years.
Approaching Rookie Drafts
Given his skillset, prospective fantasy managers needed Moore to land in a place where they would utilize him creatively and effectively. Fortunately, this looks to be the case in Arizona under the guise of Kliff Kingsbury and the offense led by Kyler Murray. Moore has traits that should translate well to the NFL if used correctly, leading to relevant fantasy production – even in his rookie season. Looking at dynasty rookie drafts, with several high-profile wide receivers being taken in the first round of the NFL draft, Moore is likely to slip down rookie draft boards behind these players. I would therefore be confident taking Moore in the late first round in 1QB leagues, and in the early second round in Superflex.
