The Arizona Cardinals drafted three receivers last year, taking Andy Isabella in the second round, Hakeem Butler in the fourth round and KeeSean Johnson in the seventh round. None of them had big seasons.
Butler spent the year on injured reserve after injuring his hand late in the preseason. Johnson was impactful early on but was healthy and inactive for the final month of the season. Isabella saw very little playing time early, made a couple of big plays and saw limited work in the second half of the season.
The trio combined for 30 receptions and two touchdowns.
Moving forward, head coach Kliff Kingsbury believes they will be much better in 2020.
“They had their moments, they had some rookie moments as well,” Kingsbury said at the combine. “We expect to see a big jump with the quarterback year 2. With an entire offseason in our offense, I expect all three of those guys to have a much bigger impact next season.”
Isabella’s lack of production was the most disappointing of the three. Kingsbury blamed himself for that.
“We moved him around a lot last year and I think it slowed his development a little bit and we’ll make sure we do a better job this season with him,” he said.
The team tried to have him become a slot receiver last year. He won’t necessarily be forced into that role this coming season.
“He has enough speed, in college, he played inside and outside,” he said. “It’s more about finding a role that we like for him and sticking with it.”
The Cardinals return Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk. The three 2019 picks return. The Cardinals might draft a new receiver in the first round. If that is the case, the offseason, training camp and the preseason will be fun to watch because the receiver room should be very competitive.
Last year, wide receiver was a position of weakness. Maybe it will be a position of strength in 2020.
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Ep. 260
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Ep. 259
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