Cardinals Player Spotlight: RB Andre Ellington
After spending his rookie season as the backup for the Arizona Cardinals, Andre Ellington was ready to roll as the primary back in 2014 and he played well, while healthy.
In 12 games Ellington rushed for 660 yards and scored three rushing touchdowns. He also charted 46 receptions for 395 yards and a pair of receiving touchdowns through the air. He is one of the better up-and-coming dual-threat running backs in the league.
This is the year that Ellington should finally reach the potential that the Cardinals organization has been hoping for. After all, he has already performed extremely well for a sixth round pick (2013).
More from Heat Waved
- Arizona Coyotes: Slumping Strome Shipped to Chicago
- Arizona Cardinals Paid Sam Bradford $6.75 Million Per TD Pass
- Former Arizona Basketball Star Allonzo Trier Remarkably Efficient Lately
- Arizona Coyotes: How Coach Rick Tocchet Sparked His Offense
- Arizona State Basketball Has Two Transfers Ready to Compete
With Carson Palmer returning from injury in 2015 the pressure won’t be solely on Ellington’s back anymore to do most of the play making.
Ellington not only has a chance to have a higher yards per carry average (3.3 in 2014) with Palmer back, forcing the defense to respect the Cardinals passing game once more, but will also improve on his receiving numbers with an NFL-caliber quarterback under center once more.
Ellington has the skill set to be an impact running back in the NFL and with the improvements made on the offensive line in the offseason (Mike Iupati and D.J. Humphries) he especially has a chance to crack the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career.
When it comes to Fantasy Football, I have Ellington as the 25th best running back. The main reason I have him knocked down so low is his injury history and also I am not sure how often Palmer will do check-downs to Ellington.
However, Ellington’s playmaking ability is incredible and I hope that I look back at the end of the year and realize how foolish I was when I ranked Ellington 25th as he has top-15 running back potential.