Arizona Cardinals profiles: Andre Ellington

The Arizona Cardinals are two weeks away from opening training camp in Glendale

We continue our annual look at player by player from A to Z on the current Arizona Cardinals roster as we are now entering the final stages of the offseason before the start of training camp. The next stop is training camp on July 28th.

In this profile we look at running back Andre Ellington.  He is entering his fourth season in the NFL with the Cardinals out of Clemson.

2015: Ellington rushed for 289 yards and three touchdowns.  One of those three touchdowns was a 48-yard scamper down the sidelines against the Seattle Seahawks to seal the victory in Seattle on Sunday Night Football.

Ellington all of a sudden became the third option after the arrival of Chris Johnson and David Johnson.  Ellington again struggled with injury and started just two games last season.

2016: Because of his durability, once again Ellington is looking at being the third option in the backfield unfortunately.  He was once tabbed as the every down starter but because of health issues, the Cardinals had to find other options.

Enter David Johnson.  Johnson is just as versatile as Ellington and he’s bigger, meaning he can take more hits.  Ellington will still be a viable option though as long as he stays healthy.

It is because of his talent that Ellington is still hanging around.  He is fun to watch but it isn’t fun watching him consistently go down with an injury.  It will be interesting to see how he is used in the 2016 season.

Chris Johnson is also coming off injury, so if he gets re-injured or can’t perform like he did in 2015, then you can be rest assured as long as he is healthy, Ellington will get the bulk of action behind David Johnson.