Share Pin 0 Shares

So, with one day left until the trade deadline, the Arizona Cardinals have traded a 2020 6th round pick which could become a 5th round pick to Miami in exchange for Kenyan Drake.

Drake Owners rejoice, he is finally free!

There will be a lot of people out there who will be very happy to see the news that Kenyan Drake has been allowed to leave the hellscape of Miami where he has toiled away the past few years. The Dolphins have been in tank mode all season and yet have no real excuse for not using Drake despite the fact that he was the RB 14 in PPR last year, instead favoring Kalen Ballage and now Mark Walton, despite the fact that Drake is an objectively better football player.

Reports lead me to believe that there were many teams interested in trading for Drake, amongst whom were the Lions, a team who I think would have been a much better fit for fantasy purposes. However, the trade has been made, so let’s have a look at the implications:

The Good

For obvious reasons Drake is at the top of the list of good things to come out of this trade, he leaves a team who have barely had a lead this year and scarcely run the ball. Even when Drake did run the ball his YPC was at a career-low as he was struggling to get anywhere behind one of the worst offensive lines the NFL had ever seen. In Arizona, Drake may not find himself behind the best o-line in the league but at least he has a creative HC calling plays to help get him into space, especially utilizing the receiving skills that saw him catch 53 balls just a year ago. He does, however, face some horrible matchups in the remainder of this season, so although he might be seeing the ball more, don’t necessarily expect a big increase in fantasy production.

Mark Walton is a winner from this trade as well, although his ceiling as a winner is much lower than Drake’s. Before the season Kalen Ballage was meant to be the main guy in the backfield, but a combination of awful running and dodging catches had seen him relegated to 3rd string (now 2nd). Walton now has the chance to lead a backfield for the first time in his career, and whilst he may not have much to work with, volume is a fantastic thing for a running back and he may even work himself into contention for a flex spot with the right matchup (namely the Bengals in week 16).

The Bad

David Johnson’s ankle injury must be worse than we first thought. Originally it wasn’t seen as a huge injury as he was active but only played a couple of snaps in week 6, then he was inactive last night and is on course to be inactive on Thursday night as well. The Cardinals face the number 2 ranked defense of the 49ers in 2 of the next 3 weeks, so maybe holding DJ out until after their week 12 bye could be the plan. At least DJ owners would have him back in time for the playoffs if that is indeed the case.

The Ugly

The Chase Edmonds hype train has officially been derailed after the young back hobbled off the field yesterday with an apparent hamstring injury. Edmonds had already been ruled out for Thursday night but this trade makes me think that he may miss an extended period of time, possibly the season, and, even if he is healthy again, there’s a chance he may not even get the starting role back, which is a damn shame for someone who showed so much promise with the opportunity he was presented with this year.

To see more articles, please view the rest of our website for all future articles, rankings, podcasts & live streams! The Fantasy Coaches are here to help you win!