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Arizona Cardinals QB Sam Bradford is joining a new team for the 2018 NFL season. Jason Katz looks at his fantasy football draft value for redraft leagues.
As of the morning of March 13, 2018, the Arizona Cardinals had zero quarterbacks under contract. By the end of the day, they had two. The Cardinals signed both Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon. I still think the Cardinals should draft a QB project in the second or third round, but Bradford is the clear top dog here - that is - as long as he is healthy.
The biggest issue for Bradford, outside of spending part of his career with Jeff Fisher, has been playing football. He simply hasn't done it very often. Last year, he didn't really even get hurt, but rather is dealing with what Mike Zimmer described as degenerative knee. I believe him.
Bradford's career is not going to last as long as most QBs because of his knee issues. That doesn't mean he won't be successful in Arizona. Bradford will have a full offseason to get healthy and get acclimated to his new team. The Cardinals absolutely need Bradford to stay on the field if they want any chance at competing in 2018. It would truly be a shame if they wasted the final year (maybe?) of Larry Fitzgerald or the prime of David Johnson.
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Outlook in the Desert
Speaking of Fitz and DJ, they are the two players we need to focus on as they are the only two Cardinals with serious fantasy value. DJ will be an elite RB1 regardless of who plays QB because he is such a special talent. With Bradford, though, DJ has overall RB1 upside similar to what he did in 2016. Bradford has a career 6.6 yards per attempt. He throws passes near the line of scrimmage and loves to check it down to his backs. Johnson is the best pass catching RB in the league. With Bradford under center, a 100 reception 1,000-1,000 season is well within the reasonable range of outcomes for DJ. Bradford doesn't have to even be as good as Carson Palmer in 2016 to at least maintain the fantasy value of DJ.
As for Fitz, he's really the only option in the passing game right now and given what's transpired in free agency, that does not appear likely to change. The Cardinals will almost certainly draft a WR within the first two or three rounds, but make no mistake, this is still the Larry Fitzgerald show. I typically write RBs off after age 30 and WRs after age 32, but Fitz has proven to be an exception. He takes such good care of his body that I have no doubts that as long as he is playing, he will be playing at a high level. But we've seen Fitz crippled by poor QB play before. After enjoying the back end of Kurt Warner's career, he's had to endure legends such as Ryan Lindley, John Skelton, Max Hall, and Richard Bartel. You can almost picture Fitz crying on the phone begging Warner to return every time his starting QB goes down. That happened against last season with Palmer, but Fitz persevered en route to another WR1 season. A healthy Bradford is all Fitz will need to be a WR1 once again because, like I said, I am done doubting him. All Fitz needs is to be on the field with competent QB play. I am confident he will get that out of Bradford as long as Bradford is healthy.
With all that being said, I would put the odds at Bradford playing 16 games this season at slim to none. This marriage is going to start out very well - just like it did in Minnesota last year. I would bet it lasts more than just one game. But eventually, Bradford's body will betray him. Mike Glennon is not the worst backup option and DJ will be fine regardless, but Fitz is probably more WR2 with Glennon than not.
The Bradford signing is a positive for Cardinals fantasy options, but be weary of going all in on Cardinals and thinking everything is fine as Bradford comes with significant injury risk that stands to impact everyone around him. Keep that in mind as you approach the offseason and eventually draft day.
