Kenyan Drake keeps having reps stolen by Chase Edmonds

With two games to go and a potential playoff appearance on the line, the indecision on a clear starter for the Arizona Cardinals has held them back this year.

Kenyan Drake and Chase Edmonds have been the main bellcows for the team this year. Their work has been split pretty much evenly. An effective system that allows rest and changes things up, yes? Not quite. I believe this split backfield is actually hurting the team by preventing the effects of the Cardinals offensive scheme.

Kenyan Drake should be the RB1

Let’s go back to last year when Drake was the starter, taking over the role after Edmonds got hurt. Drake came in on a short week and had a fantastic game against the division-leading 49ers on TNF. He would finish the season with the Cardinals with over 600 rushing yards in seven games, and a chunk of yards through the air.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. “He’s currently within the top 10 in rushing yards this season, and the team is in a spot to go to the playoffs. So what more do you want?”

My response is that he has only two 100 yard games this year. Those games were against Dallas and Buffalo, the latter game equaling 100 yds on the dot. There hasn’t been those moments this year, aside from the 80 yarder against Dallas that you could say he was a franchise RB.

It’s not every game you can have him score 4 touchdowns against Cleveland. Or take an 80 yarder to the house in a stunning upset of the Seahawks. However, the more the team can get him opportunities, he has the breakaway speed and skills to take a short run into a house call.

Drake to me, is one of those backs who has to continually get the ball for him to make his mark. It would happen if the team didn’t get Hopkins in the off-season, or this idea to most likely pass when Edmonds gets on the field.

Chase Edmonds is an RB2

There, I said it.  I know I’ll get some dislike from some of you on that alone. While Chase did a decent job last year after David Johnson got hurt, it just wasn’t the best fit at the time, as he had a rookie head coach in Kliff Kingsbury.

While this year he has seen an improvement in total yards, my biggest issue remains that he is mostly used in passing situations, despite having fewer receiving yards than rushing on the season. He is a “key” that opposing defenses check through pre-snap every play.

This highly has a chance of changing the defensive play call, and then messing up the look the Cardinals offense thought they were going to get. Then it becomes an audible-fest down on the field in an attempt to get it right, which may be the reason for some of the absolutely abysmal timeout management from Kliff’s offense.

To fix both Drake and Edmonds’ positions

If you’re on “Team Drake”, you would hope for the Cardinals to give him consistent carries/snaps that would increase his workload. Offensive formations would be modified to help give more help to the run game, especially in short yardage situations. We could see that burst of speed more often.

It’s similar for “Team Edmonds”, but you need to establish him as a decent run threat out of the backfield. His skills could use some work (not saying that Drake is perfect either) along with finishing runs harder. If there was a stat that tracked how many times someone stayed in/ went out of bounds with the ball, I’d cite it. To my knowledge, it doesn’t exist.

Whoever it ends up being, the team needs to figure it out fast. If they get into the playoffs, having a run game is paramount to success and moving on to the next level. The more familiar the starter is, the better chance of success in the games going forward. A more steady commitment to the run game would better Murray’s effectiveness in the run game, amongst many other benefits. Let’s hope the Cardinals choose the right man to carry the rock.