Getty Running back Kenyan Drake #41 of the Arizona Cardinals
Arian Foster, Jay Ajayi, Damien Williams and Mark Walton, all of whom are currently not on active NFL roster, are just some of the many names that the Miami Dolphins opted to feature ahead of Kenyan Drake during his frustrating three-plus-year tenure in South Florida.
However, that just appears to be the way the cookie crumbles when Adam Gase is heading your football team. Ryan Tannehill and DeVante Parker can likely attest to this.
Thankfully for Drake and all his truthers, the running back finally escaped Miami midway through 2019, trading the beach for the desert, as well as fantasy football mediocrity for fantasy football stardom.
Now, with a chokehold on the lead-back duties for the Arizona Cardinals, Drake is feeling confident in his chance of leading your fantasy team to the promised land in 2020.
Is Drake a League Winner?
He certainly appears to believe so. Fresh off a career-season, thanks in large part to a tremendous eight-game tear upon his arrival in Arizona, Drake is now all smiles and expects his fantasy owners to be the same once the upcoming season comes to an end.
Drake took to Twitter over the weekend posting what appears to be his new team bio photo. The photo, which Drake can be seen cheesin’ from cheek to cheek, was captioned “The face you’ll make when I help lead you to a fantasy championship this season.”
The face you’ll make when I help lead you to a fantasy championship this season 😁
Drake to be Part of Timeshare?
Drake’s talents have never been a question, but rather his workload, as we previously noted above. Concerns over his usage appeared to be all but over, as he’s averaged nearly 19 touches per game since joining the Cardinals. However, recent comments from Drake’s head coach, Kliff Kingsbury, could cast doubt on his newfound RB1 status.
“We all feel like he’s a starting running back in this league” Kingsbury recently said of Drake’s primary backup, Chase Edmonds. Kingsbury went on to continue his praise of Edmonds stating “he’s everything you want”.
Certainly not the type of chatter that current and future Drake owners are excited to hear. This is especially true for a player that will likely warrant a late-round one, early-round two selection come draft time, as he’s currently slated as the 11th-running back coming off fantasy boards.
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Cardinals Offense a Goldmine for RB Fantasy Production?
Coaches use the preseason to hype under the radar players readily, typically to no avail. Whether that proves to be the case with Edmonds has yet to be seen. Still, either way, Drake’s fantasy value is likely in firm standing.
Drake made his first appearance in a Cardinals uniform in Week 9 of the 2019 season. From that point on, he averaged 20.3 points per game, the fourth-highest scoring running back in fantasy over that period.
Prior to Drake’s arrival, the team flip-flopped between featuring Edmonds and now-Texans running back David Johnson in a featured role, to grand success, as we’ve previously noted.
If you combine both David Johnson and Chase Edmonds’ fantasy outputs through the first eight weeks of the 2019 season, their 203.5 fantasy points would put them a meager 5.3 points behind Christian McCaffrey for the second-highest fantasy scorer, not only at the running back position but league-wide, regardless of position.
Whether Drake can make good on his guarantee of leading your fantasy team to a title is unclear. What is clear is the combination of his skill set and the Cardinals’ offensive scheme make for a deadly combo.
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