Arizona Cardinals: Where were players drafted in fantasy football leagues?

With a healthy QB, a strong receiving core, and a top-tier defense, where are players ending up in fantasy leagues.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been involved in a few different fantasy drafts and it’s always interesting to see trends for players and where they are drafted, but it also gives you a good perspective of the casual football or other team fan’s thoughts about players on other teams. Fantasy football is bigger than ever and a billion dollar industry in of itself. So where did some of the Arizona Cardinals players end up after two drafts in the books?

League A is a 12 person PPR league, meaning points-per-reception, using standard scoring otherwise, offensive players are awarded a point per reception making multi-faceted running backs and favorite receivers hot commodities. There were years where Larry Fitzgerald was one of the top five picks in the league (these were the Kurt Warner days) but Fitz’s usage over the last few years in Bruce Arians offense has diminished his value.

• Larry Fitzgerald – Round 3 – Pick 5 – 29th Overall
• Andre Ellington – Round 4 – Pick 3 – 39th Overall
• John Brown – Round 6 – Pick 1 – 61st Overall
• Carson Palmer – Round 7 – Pick 10 – 82nd Overall
• Michael Floyd – Round 8 – Pick 3 – 87th Overall
• Arizona (DEF) – Round 9 – Pick 4 – 100th Overall
• Chandler Catanzaro – Round 10 – Pick 3 – 111th Overall
• J.J. Nelson – Round 14 – Pick 6 – 174th Overall
• Chris Johnson – Round 16 – Pick 12 – 192nd Overall (Mr. Irrelevant)

As you can see, a host of offensive weapons went in the earlier rounds, but no Cardinals player appeared until midway through the third round in Larry Fitzgerald. The Cardinals struggles at QB last season, while not compared to the heinous stats of Skelton/Leinart/Lindley/Hall/etc. still didn’t inspire fantasy players in this league of moderately casual and a few die hard fans to really go after the stars. Carson Palmer going in Round 7 as a backup QB is lower than I would have expected. The absence of any tight ends going from the Cardinals during the draft shows the casual fans reluctance to take the position seriously without someone having proved themselves in the role. Here’s hoping Darren Fells or Jermaine Gresham can hold up a torch.

League B is a 10 person PPR league.

• Andre Ellington – Round 4 – Pick 6 – 33rd Overall
• John Brown – Round 6 – Pick 6 – 56th Overall
• Larry Fitzgerald – Round 8 – Pick 8 – 78th Overall
• Arizona (DEF) – Round 9 – Pick 9 – 89th Overall
• Carson Palmer – Round 11 – Pick 9 – 99th Overall
• David Johnson – Round 12 – Pick 2 – 112th Overall
• Michael Floyd – Round 14 – Pick 6 – 136th Overall

As you can see in this league, the same players were taken, with one less round to fill in players because of one less roster spot you can see a few players left out. Chris Johnson, who will debut tonight at Denver, does not appear in this draft and David Johnson. Arizona’s defense, which ranked fifth in points allowed last season appears to have the same value overall across leagues. With changes to the defensive line and linebackers, here’s hoping a marked improvement in other major categories. Tight End was left out again, and even Catanzaro didn’t make an appearance after tying an NFL record for consecutive field goals to start a career.

Obviously moves will be made over the next couple of days as rosters are shored up, new players are brought in, and people start to see who played well in the final preseason game and who will be playing next week when the season kicks off.

The top overall pick in both leagues was Adrian Peterson, apparently you do get a second chance in the eyes of most when you sit out a year and are still expected to light up the stat-line.

Where did Cardinals players go in your league? Did you manage to pick anyone up in hopes of holding up your league’s trophy this year?