Kenyan Drake was traded to the Arizona Cardinals from the Miami Dolphins in the middle of last season in exchange for a Day 3 pick, and it’s a trade that continues to pay off for Arizona.
Even from the debut with his new team, Drake immediately showed that he was well worth the asset Cardinals general manager Steve Keim had parted with, and recently, a fantasy football expert with FF Astronauts reposted a Drake’s highlights from that game.
Remember when Kenyan Drake spent all 4 hrs and 35 min of the flight from Miami to Phoenix studying his new playbook, hopped off the plane, and dropped 162 yards and 2 scores on the best defense in the league pic.twitter.com/5zj7kM1EV7
— JetPack Galileo (@JetPackGalileo) July 11, 2020
As the fantasy expert points out in the tweet, it was a quick turnaround for Drake after being traded. And he would also be going against one of the league’s best defenses in the San Francisco 49ers, who would eventually come just short of winning a Super Bowl in February.
The result? Drake rumbled for 110 yards on 15 carries (7.3 yards per attempt) with a touchdown on the ground. The 6-foot-1, 211-pounder also added 52 yards and four receptions.
It was instantly one of the best performances of Drake’s career, and it proved that he was capable of handling the lead back duties in Arizona. In fact, head coach Kliff Kingsbury and company were so confident in Drake that they traded star running back David Johnson to the Texans in the offense.
In eight games with the team to finish 2019, Drake rushed for 643 yards and eight touchdowns on top of 171 yards receiving. Of those rushing yards, 363 of them came over the course of the last three games.
Yes, valued backup running back Chase Edmonds is still on the roster, and former Arizona State standout runner Eno Benjamin was drafted in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, but Drake is still expected to be a vital part of the offense this upcoming season.
Stay tuned for more updates on Kenyan Drake and other former Alabama stars in the NFL from Roll Tide Wire, part of the USA TODAY Sports College Wire sites!
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