This post comes from Justin Becker of FantasyFootballOverdose.com. You can follow him on Twitter@NBAandNFLInfo or on the Fantasy Football Overdose Google+ Page, and for more Arizona Cardinals Rumors and News visit Fantasy Football Overdose.
The Arizona Cardinals were about as bad as we thought they’d be in week 16. Heading into a massive battle with the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona really didn’t stand much of a chance with the inept Ryan Lindley leading the way.
If you used any Cardinals options last week, you might have seen your ride in the fantasy football playoffs come to an end. Hopefully you simply steered clear, or didn’t need to depend on them to get to your league title game in the Week 17 regular season finale.
Whether this is your big championship game or you’re considering using some Cardinals options in daily fantasy football leagues, you might be curious as to which Arizona players might be worth using. The short answer is probably none, but let’s take a closer look at their Week 17 matchup and see if that’s truly the case:
No Logan Thomas debut
Ryan Lindley was so bad that Bruce Arians was going to throw caution to the wind and see what he has in big-armed rookie, Logan Thomas. While Thomas can launch the ball and has some nice size and athleticism, this could easily have been a very ugly debut. We know it could be bad because last we saw Thomas, he completed only one of eight passes against the Denver Broncos. That was in spot duty and Thomas wasn’t prepared, so there’s a slim chance he’s now in a better spot and could give Arizona a spark. Then again, he’s facing the San Francisco 49ers on the road.
However, it will be Lindley again, despite fantasy owners hoping for that to be the case. No one is shoving Lindley back out there in their fantasy lineups again (or ever) and no Thomas would mean another week of fading all Cardinals weapons, altogether.
With LIndley starting, there is little chance for the Arizona wideouts. Larry Fitzgerald somehow caught four balls last week, but it’s a guessing game from there, but if you’re desperate you can also consider using Michael Floyd or John Brown in a pinch. Using more than one Cardinals fantasy receiver would be asking for trouble, however.
The Niners Wall
San Francisco has been broken down by injuries on defense, but they’re still a top-10 run defense. That’s bad news for an Arizona bunch that already has a long list of pedestrian talent in the offensive backfield. Kerwynn Williamscould be a decent spot start due to his solid talent, but he’s not even the true starter. That would be the ploddingStepfan Taylor, who inexplicably remains above Williams and still has a solid role. You really can’t trust either of these guys due to this brutal road matchup, but if you need one Williams is probably the guy to take a chance on.
Fire Up Arizona’s D
The Niners aren’t necessarily the best team to use Arizona’s defense against, but over the course of the season they haven’t been offensive stalwarts, either. In fact, the Cards’ held San Francisco to just 14 points earlier in the year and could come close to doing that again. The chief concern is Arizona’s own offense doing so terribly that Colin Kaepernick and co. often get placed in good spots. It certainly happened last week, when Lindley couldn’t move the ball at all and Arizona’s stagnant offense gave way to Seattle running all over the Cardinals. That risk makes a very solid team defense a bit of a shaky play, but if it’s between Arizona or another shaky option on the waiver wire, you can probably stick with the Cardinals.
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