NFL offseason wish list: Arizona Cardinals

Welcome to our fantasy football wish lists where we’re going through each NFL team and listing three things we’d love to see them do this offseason for fantasy reasons (but also real football reasons).

The Arizona Cardinals have a ton of work to do this offseason. Their offense was the worst in the league per our own Paddi Cooper’s RODS rankings, and honestly that’s putting it nicely. They were a fantasy wasteland despite having the likes of David Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald on the team. Obviously if there’s any hope of improvement, that responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of new head coach Kliff Kingsbury and hopefully franchise quarterback Josh Rosen (or maybe franchise quarterback Kyler Murray, WHO SAYS NO????). So Kliff, if you want to return the Cardinals to fantasy relevance, might I politely suggest you do the following three things:

For the love of all that is holy, use David Johnson correctly

This needs to be priority numbers 1 through 174. For whatever reason, last year the Cardinals decided that turning Johnson into a power back who only ran up the middle was the perfect way to use him. I can comfortably say that method was entirely wrong. Johnson, when used properly, could easily be the best running back in fantasy and the driving force behind the Cardinals’ offense. His ability to catch the football, run routes, make people miss and his breakaway speed make him the perfect running back for today’s NFL and the Cards NEED to spend the offseason implementing him properly so that when I draft him 4th overall this year, I don’t look like a complete idiot.

Sign Tyrell Williams

I love Christian Kirk and what he did last year before getting injured, but the Cardinals need a big outside receiver who can threaten a defense deep, but also can haul in whatever Rosen throws his way. Williams fits that mold perfectly. Williams is coming off a strong season where he hauled in 41 balls for 653 yards and five touchdowns while catching 63.1% of his passes. Given that no one on the Cardinals averaged more than 14 yards per catch last year (Williams averaged a cool 15.9) and only Larry Fitz scored more than five touchdowns, Williams would be a welcome addition to the team. Plus, he’d see a much high workload in Arizona than he saw in LA. There was nothing more frustrating last year than trying to figure out which Williams would have the big game.

Sign Jared Cook

Who knows what’s gonna happen with the Raiders this year so I’m getting Cook the hell out of there. Afterall, there are only so many fantasy relevant tight ends these days and I’m not wasting Cook in whatever that 2019 Raiders are going to be. Coming off a career year—68 catches for 896 yards and six touchdowns—Cook would instantly be an upgrade at tight end for the Cardinals and give them yet another weapon to play with on offense. Again, the name of the game is surrounding Rosen (or Murray, who says no????) with weapons for his sophomore season.

What do you want the Cardinals to do this offseason?