Cardinals free agency refresher: RB Kenyan Drake a point of intrigue

The National Football League’s new season officially begins next Wednesday.

League-wide, the Arizona Cardinals have the largest share of 2020 snaps taken by players who will enter free agency this offseason, according to OverTheCap.com. Forty-four percent of the team’s total snaps could be lost in free agency.

General manager Steve Keim will see what he can do to retain many of those players after an 8-8 season. But with spending limited due to a salary cap drop — plus teams expected to be shedding big contracts before free agency — there are many roster decisions to make on the fly.

This series, originally published in January, has been refreshed with any updates before free agency begins.

Players under contract

Chase Edmonds ($1,033,092)
Eno Benjamin ($805,678)
Jonathan Ward ($780,000)

Free agents

Kenyan Drake
D.J. Foster

All salary data via Spotrac.com.

The good news

Don’t expect the Cardinals to view things much differently next year.

They need a true power running game to be the focal point of the offense. Whether that involves soon-to-be free agent Kenyan Drake — more on him in a bit — or someone else remains to be seen. But Arizona did in 2020 build upon the roles assumed by Drake and changeup back Chase Edmonds compared to the prior year.

The results were not always pretty, nor did head coach Kliff Kingsbury commit to the running game maybe as much as an NFL traditionalist would like, but the team did consistently and successfully dole out clear-cut roles to its top two backs.

Edmonds rushed for 448 yards (4.6 yards per carry) and added 402 receiving yards with five touchdowns combined. He was the team’s fifth leading receiver. Defenses learned to account for him differently, and he was most problematic by forcing coverage his way in the passing game.

Drake took his first year as a No. 1 back by the horns, and while the results weren’t always as electric as his eight-game run in 2019, he wasn’t a disappointment by any means.

If he departs, here’s what we know: Edmonds can handle a bigger load, even if the team believes he’s not the big-bodied back who can wear on an opposing defensive line over the course of a game.

“As far as Chase goes, you’ve seen him when he’s had his opportunity,” Kingsbury said via Zoom on March 4. “He’s played at a starting running back level and we all understand that. He’s unfortunately been nicked up a couple times, which we want to keep him on the field, but we have all the confidence in the world in Chase and him being able to be the bell-cow if that’s how this plays out.”

The Cardinals liked undrafted rookie Jonathan Ward, who has size, speed and pass-catching ability that he flashed with a touchdown in just four offensive snaps all year.

Rookie Eno Benjamin could also use an offseason to will his way into the conversation after he was inactive throughout the regular season in what is effectively a redshirt year.

There is already inexpensive depth built at the position.

The concerns

Keim doesn’t have to dig into his memory banks to remember why the running back personnel decisions present a tough call this year. Things didn’t go well the last time he handed out a long-term contract to a starting running back.

Arizona gave Dave Johnson a three-year extension before the 2018 regular season began — and after a season-ending wrist injury took away all but a brief appearance by Johnson in the 2017 opener. His slide wasn’t utterly predictable at the time he signed the deal.

After underwhelming 2018 and 2019 seasons, the Cardinals got out of a bad situation by preying on a Houston Texans team led by a lame duck coach-slash-GM. They grabbed one of the NFL’s best receivers, DeAndre Hopkins, in exchange for a money dump of Johnson’s contract.

Drake at 26 years old is still not in the same place as the high-mileage, injury-prone Johnson was before his Arizona departure.

Drake came 45 yards short of the 1,000-yard mark in 2020, turning in a career year while playing on a transition tag. He did battle inconsistency that became most apparent when he started forcing things early in the year. Drake corrected those issues and had several games where, even if the numbers weren’t there, he did act as a stout closer with tough runs to seal games.

All-in-all, Drake did prove he could carry the load of a No. 1 back, even if he only averaged 4.0 yards per carry. He missed just a single game despite an ugly-looking ankle injury.

While Edmonds brought a different dynamic, neither back scored positively in terms of advanced analytics like Sports Info Solutions’ total points earned (TPE). Arizona’s rushing Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) ranked just 17th despite quarterback Kyler Murray’s dynamic abilities that contributed to the ground game.

Only the Cardinals know whether that’s on Arizona’s scheme, the running backs themselves or the offensive line, which relatively recorded much higher grades and praise.

What Drake commands in free agency is murky. Money, as has been mentioned, will be tight this coming offseason for all teams.

Early mock drafts have the Cardinals targeting a running back in the first round of the 2020 draft, but that 1) would cost a lot of money that could be given to a known commodity like Drake and 2) risks Arizona not signing a starting back in free agency and then missing out on their favorite draft prospects. Free agency comes first.

Maybe the silver lining after a so-so year for the Cardinals running backs — again, they were still career seasons for Drake and Edmonds — is that Drake didn’t price himself out of a multi-year return.

Perhaps that makes a decision easier. Still, it’s a discussion to be had.

Arizona has three returning backs if it likes them. In a frugal world, they could add depth via the draft and in the lower tiers of the free agent market.

Follow @kzimmermanaz