In this second part of our Arizona Cardinals 4-EYED TEAM PREVIEW, we’re going to be covering the Cardinals IDPs that you should consider rostering for the 2021 fantasy football season
Things weren’t exactly good for the Arizona Cardinals on the defensive side of the ball in 2020. They were at the bottom of the league in run defense according to Pro Football Focus. They allowed the most rushing yards in the league with 2,008, 7th most yards per attempt with 4.7, and gave up the 10th most first downs to the opponent’s running game. They were pretty dominant in pass-rushing, however, tallying the 4th most sacks as team in the NFL.
The following are the IDP relevant changes have occurred on the defensive side of the ball for Arizona in 2021:
- Hassan Reddick (OLB), the team leader in sacks left in free agency to go to Carolina
- The team announced they are shopping inside linebacker or ILB Jordan Hicks for a trade and do no expect to bring him back in 2021
- They signed in free agency defensive end J.J. Watt formerly of the Houston Texans
- They signed veteran corner back Malcolm Butler who was 8th in the league in solo tackles amongst all defensive players in 2020 along with the 8th most passes defended
- They drafted ILB Zaven Collins in the 2021 NFL Draft, 16th overall from Tulsa
So with all the comings and goings along this defense you must be asking yourself who you should roster in your IDP leagues from the Arizona Cardinals this season?
Find out now in 2021 Cardinals IDP 4-EYED Team Preview
*This season at Fantasy In Frames we’ll be using IDP123 scoring as our default scoring rubric when talking about the fantasy relevance of IDP player performance.*
Linebacker
*Positional designations & ADP data brought to you by Sleeper.
Isaiah Simmons (Current ADP: LB12 )
ISAIAH SIMMONS SACKS CAM
— PFF College (@PFF_College) November 29, 2020
pic.twitter.com/R9hEL8Mtgn
One of the things that had Isaiah Simmions so heralded coming out of college was his ability to be a swiss army knife on a defense meaning he could lineup anywhere and instantly contribute. That wasn’t so much the case for Simmons in 2020 as he barely saw any playing time throughout his rookie year and with the exception of one 10 total tackle performance was IDP irrelevant.
That’s set to change as the departure of De’Vondre Campbell leaves one of the starting ILB positions open and you guessed it, Simmons will be manning that role in 2021. According to PFF, he rated pretty highly as a tackler and against the run-heavy divisional opponents he’s set to face this season his tackle numbers should take a TREMENDOUS jump.
That being said his LB12 ADP is a bit high for my liking. If you can draft him as your low-end LB2/high-end LB3 and play the wait-and-see game with him this season the better off you’ll be rather than banking all of your LB1/LB2 expectations purely on upside.
Zaven Collins (Current ADP: LB26)
LB4 Zaven Collins⚡️
— PFF College (@PFF_College) March 18, 2021
Highest coverage grade we’ve ever recorded by a LB
pic.twitter.com/F7GN505DjB
Allowing just an average depth of target (aDOT) is 3.3 yards Zaven Collins was the perfect model of what a linebacker in coverage should be. In 2020 at the University of Tulsa, Collins ranked as the number 2 LB in all of the NCAA in interceptions by a linebacker and the 11th most tackles for a loss. Clearly, with the Jordan Hicks out the picture in Arizona the Cardinals will need someone who will play that dual coverage/pass-rushing role. It’s a good thing Collins excelled at both in college.
For IDP, I’d rank him just below Isaiah Simmons as an LB3 with LB2 upside just based on the lack of experience in the NFL. While he might start producing slow out of the gate, based on volume/opportunity at the position he should bring you some fantasy relevance at some point in the season.
Defensive Line/EDGE
*Positional designations & ADP data brought to you by Sleeper.
Chandler Jones (Current ADP: DL22/LB38)
You wanna talk about an EDGE (ED) rusher who doesn’t get enough respect in IDP circles, it’s Chandler Jones. A torn biceps injury in 2020 may have curtailed his season, but it does not take away from the fact that he is one of the elite sack producing players in the NFL in recent history:
- 2019: 19 sacks (2nd most amongst all defensive players in the NFL)
- 2018: 13 sacks (8th most amongst all defensive players in the NFL)
- 2017: 17 sacks (THE MOST amongst all defensive players in the NFL)
In terms of fantasy points per game averages from 2017-2019 we’re talking 19.8, 14.6, and 19.1 respectively. With J.J. Watt coming over to help in the pass-rushing department, Jones could be in for his best year yet!
His ADP is straight-up insulting. Please, if he falls to you as your DL2 pounce on the draft pick ASAP and prepare to get high DL1 upside this season
J.J. Watt (Current ADP: DL16)
Wanna know more about what we think about J.J. Watt?! Find out in our 2021 NFC West Divisional Preview podcast episode on our show 4th And Frames!
Defensive Backs
*Positional designations & ADP data brought to you by Sleeper.
Budda Baker (Current ADP: DB2)
Budda Baker will find you wherever you are 😤 @buddabaker32 @AZCardinals
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) October 20, 2020
📺 #AZvsDAL on ESPN pic.twitter.com/NurbjXjqX0
What really needs to be said about Budda Baker that you don’t already know? In terms of IDP scoring the past three seasons amongst all DBs with a minimum of 10 games played:
- 2020: 18.0 fppg (DB2)
- 2019: 18.4 fppg (DB3)
- 2018: 15.7 fppg (DB10)
The past two seasons he was second in the league in solo tackles (90) in 2020 and first in the league in solo tackles (104) in 2019. His DB2 ADP is spot on and he should be drafted as such in 2021!
