Facts about Kenyan Drake, the Cardinals’ newest running back
Oct 28, 2019, 10:07 AM | Updated: 2:20 pm
Kenyan Drake #32 of the Miami Dolphins takes the field for their game against the New England Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium on December 9, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
(Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
The Arizona Cardinals needed a running back. Enter Kenyan Drake.
Their No. 1 back, David Johnson, has missed some time with an ankle injury. D.J. Foster, the third-string running back, has been out with a hamstring injury.
On Sunday, in the Cardinals’ loss to the New Orleans Saints on the road, the team saw Chase Edmonds go down with a hamstring injury. That was bad news, not only because Edmonds was one of the few healthy bodies left in the running backs room but also because he had an explosive performance in Week 7 and went off for three touchdowns.
The team already had signed backs Alfred Morris and Zach Zenner in Week 8, but as the Week 9 contest approaches, the Cardinals traded with the Dolphins to get Drake on Monday.
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Here’s more about him and the trade that brings him to Arizona:
THE CONTRACT
According to Spotrac, Drake’s contract is on the final year of a four-year, $3.38 million deal that will pay him a little over $1 million this season. Then, he’ll be a free agent this offseason.
Spotrac’s estimated cap space for the Cardinals, which was updated to reflect Drake’s salary, stood at $4.568 million. That is not an official number.
According to 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s John Gambadoro, Drake was offered a new contract by the Dolphins “but wanted out of that toxic environment.”
ABOUT THAT DRAFT PICK…
As reported by Adam Schefter, the return for Drake was a conditional sixth-round pick the Cardinals are sending to Miami. But as AZCardinals.com writer Darren Urban pointed out, since the pick could become a fifth-rounder, the Dolphins could get back the draft pick that they traded for Josh Rosen.
In case you forgot, the Rosen trade this offseason sent the quarterback to Miami in exchange for a second-round pick (which became Andy Isabella) and a 2020 fifth-rounder. The Cardinals had a fifth-rounder of their own, too, but they lost it when they took safety Jalen Thompson in the supplemental draft.
All this means two things: The Dolphins could get back a draft pick that will more-than-likely be at the beginning of the fifth round; and the Cardinals will be without a fifth-round pick in the next draft (barring another trade). All this, however, hinges on that sixth-rounder becoming the fifth-rounder based on some currently-unknown condition.
POWERHOUSE PEDIGREE
In Drake’s final year at Alabama, he wasn’t even the leading rusher on his own team. He got 77 carries for 408 yards in 13 games played. The lion’s share of the workload was given to Derrick Henry, who had a whopping 2,219 rushing yards that year. Henry was a 45th-overall pick by the Titans in 2016.
Also in the running backs room at Alabama that year were eventual draft picks Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris.
It all worked out for Drake, though, as he was a third-round pick in 2016.
AIR AND GROUND
With 477 rushing yards and 535 receiving yards last season, Drake’s 1,012 yards from scrimmage was among the top 50 in the NFL, coming in at 45th overall.
The 2018 season wasn’t a great year offensively for the Cardinals, but Drake’s numbers last year would’ve been second-best on the team in Arizona had he put up those stats in the desert. Only David Johnson (1,386 yards from scrimmage) had more.
