Arizona Cardinals: Darren Fells has the right stuff (video)
By Scott Allen
Arizona Cardinals tight end Darren Fells caught his first NFL touchdown on Sunday
The Arizona Cardinals have had a hard time keeping tight ends healthy over the past few years. If they’ve been healthy, they’ve had trouble getting them to perform well consistently. After Ifeyani Momah went down last week and had to sign Joseph Fauria fans started thinking here we go again.
Second-year tight end Darren Fells though showed why there may be no reason to worry about the position this season. He had a career day in just his sixth NFL start.
Fells had four catches for 82 yards in the the 31-19 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. The effort also included a touchdown, his first as a pro. It was the most yards gained by a tight end for the Cardinals since Rob Awalt caught 102 yards back in 1987, the year before the franchise moved from St. Louis to Arizona.
Rob Housler, John Carlson, Jeff King, Leonard Pope, Todd Heap, Jim Dray, Jake Ballard, Stephen Spach, Ben Patrick, Fred Wakefield, Eric Edwards, Adam Bergen, Freddie Jones, Steve Bush, Terry Hardy, Johnny McWilliams, Chris Gedney, Pat Carter, Wendell Gaines, Oscar McBride, Terry Samuels, Chad Fann, Derek Ware, Walter Reeves, Butch Rolle, Tim Jorden, Jay Novacek. None of these guys could better what Fells did on Sunday, although of course Novacek did with the Dallas Cowboys.
One hopes Jermaine Gresham and Troy Niklas aren’t too far behind in helping in that department. Gresham did have a really nice block though on Sunday and that’s the kind of tight end that will thrive in a Bruce Arians coached offense.
Fells had himself a day and showed off a little speed too. Well, it was more like a rumble but no other tight end since Awalt did what he did. Fells had a long of 48 yards on one catch. Of course we’d love to see more of that but if Gresham or Niklas do that as well, of course that is just fine with all of us too.