The 2013 season was one that the Arizona Cardinals would love to repeat in 2014 especially after going 10-6 and coming very close to making the playoffs. One of the brightest lights last year was rookie running back Andre Ellington and Coach Bruce Arians said recently that Ellington is going to have an expanded role in the offense moving forward. This is great news for both Arizona fans but also fantasy football owners around the country.
Ellington averaged 5.5 yards per carry this past season and added 39 catches. He showed that he is very fast and someone who can be a 1,000-yard rusher if he gets the right amount of carries. He had 652 rushing yards on 118 carries and just doubling those stats would put him at 1,300 yards. The 2014 season is probably one that will be now or never for the Cardinals. Carson Palmer isn’t getting any younger and neither is Larry Fitzgerald.
They are going to let Rashard Mendenhall go in free agency and having Ellington in the backfield for more of the game should allow the offense to flow even smoother than it was to end last year. This is an Arizona team that had Palmer throwing for over 4,200 yards and almost had two 1,000-yard receivers in Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd. They won six of their last seven going into the final week of the regular season where they needed help if they wanted to have a chance to make the playoffs. Ellington will be very key to Arizona and their hopes to make the playoffs in a very competitive NFC West in 2014.
If Arians is true to his word and lets Ellington run free in 2014, he becomes someone that fantasy owners must look at to take as a flex player to start every week. He turned into that sort of player as the season wore on this past season and appears to be on his way to stardom if he can continue to perform the way he did in 2013. He has become a player who could be drafted in the seventh or eighth round as a third running back that may turn into someone who has top-15 potential by the end of the season. It is a win-win situation all around.
With the addition of Jared Veldeer at OT and the return of Jonathan Cooper at OG Andre Ellington should be the recipient of a vastly improved offensive line. And with Mendenhall now officially gone, it appears that the skies the limit for AE.
No doubt about that. Ellington could have a season that hasn’t been seen in Arizona in quite a while.