2024 Arizona Cardinals Fantasy Football Franchise Focus | Trey McBride Will LIVE in the End Zone!

Intro is there still enough a piece of the pie here for Trey McBride to replicate the 81 catches that he had a season ago keeping in mind that he was on 112 catch Pace with Kyler Murray it's a great question it's a question we get asked a lot on phnx Cardinals here's what I will say the Cardinals run a version of the Kyle Shanahan offense which features George KD they I think are going to be an extension of what Ben Johnson did in Detroit which had Sam leaport eat amongst Jameson Williams and Aman Ron St Brown like I think they're going to be enough targets I don't think they're going to be as Trey McBride dependent because how could they I think it's realistic to expect similar receiving numbers in terms of 800 yards but I think the touchdowns go up significantly at three last year he's going to have much more I would say eased coverage in the Red Zone like they were putting number one corners on him Jaylen Johnson when they went to Chicago Shadow Trey McBride like you can't do that now with Marvin Harrison Jr so he's going to have third Corners safeties off ball linebackers I think he could reach 8 to 10 touchdowns receiving wise and that's that's more than enough to justify it from a fantasy perspective but you're right what [Music] what why you shaking your head you're [Music] welcome did the Cardinals in a deep 2024 quarterback draft class ever consider taking a signal caller are they that confident in Kyler Murray and Beyond Marvin Harrison Jr and Trey McBride who is catching passes in the desert and what kind of role will Rookie running back Trey Benson have if James Connor doesn't get hurt phn X's Johnny venerable gave me insight into all that and more I'm Joe Dolan like this video leave a comment and subscribe to fantasy points YouTube channel for 32 breakdowns of all 32 NFL teams this is franchise Focus Arizona Cardinals so Johnny 2024 Overview obviously last year was a year of transition for the Arizona Cardinals new coach and Jonathan Ganon and Kyler Murray wasn't even ready to play at the beginning of the season so it almost is like 2024 is a new start for the Cardinals what what are Cardinal fans are what are you as as as a beat writer and a Beat reporter most excited to see about this Cardinal team in 2024 yeah I think it's just the fact that they were they were playing without a full deck last year no pun intended you know Kyler Murray doesn't play for the first nine games of last season he doesn't get an offseason now it's like okay we can really Implement everything this offseason build upon what worked and maybe pivot off of what didn't work they they got a lot of house money to play with last year everybody understood the assignment right when Vegas is predicting that Cardinal team to win no games last year and then the team is overly competitive they damn near play 500 football with Kyler murraya they're in a position now to say okay anything's really possible and so I think it's a conjunction of of course Kyler Murray Billy Aon last year he had a 2 to1 touchdown in reception ratio he played with with a lot of guys that are back in the fold now we mentioned Michael Wilson Greg dorch Trey McBride and then of course the acquisition of Marvin Harrison Jr they're set up for success shortterm and long term this is a foundational building process where okay these are not Band-Aid free agents this is not AJ Green this is not you know respectfully DeAndre Hopkins at the tail end of his career these are players that are going to grow with Kyler Murray and I think you you pivot that now or you you combine that I should say with the building of the culture from Jonathan Ganon who has taken a team defensively to a Super Bowl who got this Cardinal team to overachieve last year based on their talent level and there's a lot to be excited about they still play in a very difficult division but you can see the semblance the bones of what this team aspires to be long term so Kyler Kyler Murray Murray obviously I think the Cardinals were always supportive of him publicly and still are obviously but had to have been a point last year where you were like yeah this guy is playing for his job when did you realize when did the beat writers realize that all right that is no longer a question even though this team's going to be picking at the top of the draft when did you realize that Kyler Murray was going to be the quarterback of the present and future for the Cardinals and uh what can he do in 2024 to take the next step in Drew Ping's offense that's a really good question and a lot of people who were cynical to to the idea of Kyler Murray being the guy I mean the Cardinals showed you with their actions that they were committed to him now he had to pick up you know his end of the bargain I think he did that at the end of the year and I'll get to that here in a second but you know I I tell this to everybody who will listen the Cardinals could have had Caleb Williams they were in a position last year where they had won one game with Joshua dobs they had checked that box right they had beaten the Dallas Cowboys they could have started Joshua dobs Andor Clayton T the rest of the year gone one in 16 and drafted Caleb Williams that was presented to them and they said' nope we're going to give Kye Murray every opportunity over the final two months of the regular season to take this job and run with it and there were some ups and downs but he Kyler Murray was two missed Matt Prader field goals away in the final two minutes against Seattle from going 500 four and four with that team last year against what I would tell you definitively and we we had all the metrics laid out on our show was the hardest remaining strength of schedule in the NFL they played Pittsburgh they played Philadelphia they played the Rams they played the 49ers Kyler Murray they played Seattle who had a win winning record Kyler Murray if Matt Prader makes one of two field goals within the final two minutes in the finale goes four and four and so I think second half of Philadelphia when they're down 21 to6 and he leads a comeback against the team that spurned Jonathan Ganon publicly and privately I think that was a big deal uh for a lot of people inside and outside of that locker room I think going on the road against Pittsburgh and walloping the Steelers and Mike Tomlin in their culture was a big deal and then of course you know his his debut beating Atlanta at home who by the way had a respectable year last year as well so I think it was in conjunction where he was playing his best football at the end of the year if you would have asked Kyler Murray publicly he would have opted to keep playing like they he had a nice game or nice two game stretch to end the season I think his threw six touchdowns to either one or zero interceptions the final two games of of the regular season so I think it it was all that in Combined but you know again the Cardinals could have had their pick of these these top quarterbacks they could have quote unquote tanked the second half of the Season Jonathan Ganon and Monty tinford did not select and draft Kyler Murray and I think it is a huge huge point of confidence for K1 for them to be around him contract or not for eight months and say we're g to stick our careers at least in the short term to K1 so that's the front end of the question the back half is just build upon that right he's got to play close to 17 games this year if you're going to be critical of K1 it's the fact he hasn't completed a full regular season since 2020 but if he plays 16 17 games this year his trajectory historically as an NFL player is he's gonna have 30 plus total touchdowns he's gonna have 4 4,000 plus total yards he's gonna put this team in a in a position to win eight nine 10 games and that's going to be good enough especially with this team although I like what they're they have offensively defensively still needing another full off season to to reenter the contender category yeah and obviously that there could be a lot of plays run on offense uh which would certainly help the fantasy outlook for Marvin Harrison Jr. Kyler Murray also helping the fantasy outlook for Kyler Murray and and we don't need to go too far into the weeds here because they drafted Marvin Harrison Jr and quite frankly I mean I don't know if the Cardinals last year had somebody who was on a wide receiver two level of wide receiver let alone a wide receiver one level of wide receiver what is Drew ping and Jonathan Ganon what have they said about the way that Marvin Harrison can kind of unlock this offense and do you anticipate that he's going to be their target leader as a rookie yes 100% um they they would prefer to build their team line of scrimmage based like John M Ganon had that philosophy in Philadelphia you saw that and then Drew psin prefers to run the football I mean they ran the football more times than not on first and second down than any team in the NFL and I think that they want to continue that they want to work off the play action they want KY Murray under Center that's going to prolong his career but they didn't have the number one alpha receiver I think in in like a perfect world they would have taken Joe Al or a pass rusher in the top 10 if this is a normal year but it wasn't a normal year the best player in in what I think each of the last two drafts just happened to be available to them at pick four three quarterbacks went ahead of him and the football Gods I mentioned Matt Prader earlier allowed Kyler Murray and John the Ganon and Monty Austin for to be able to select Marvin Harrison Jr so I think he's going to lead the team in targets I think the robust projections are accurate 1,200 yards is realistic double digit touchdowns is realistic and I also think like while there's nobody as proven of a prospect as mhj on the roster Michael Wilson had a sneaky good rookie year last year and he's only going to be helped by the arrival of of mhj they've got what I think is a Bonafide Superstar tight end in Trey McBride a top three to five tight end in the NFL returning in the second year under this offense and then Greg dorch who has really his first true opportunity with Ron Dal Moore no no longer being in the fold to to to own the slot position so I mean it's sneakily a group that should round out pretty well like Michael Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr are your two unquestioned alpha outside receivers both supplanting 62 63 Marvin might even be 6'4 on a good day and then you've got dorch who plays bigger than his size underneath and then you know the aformentioned Trey McBride it's a group that with James Conor running the football they drafted Trey Benson everybody compliments each other's skill sets well whereas if you look at this offense under cliff kingsberry not to kind of beat a dead horse here but it was a lot of hey Kyler Murray hey dehop go play backyard football figure it out right and there was no cohesiveness to anything they did whereas now you can see the outline of where this offense is and where it can go from August September all the way to January and it should only improve you Trey McBride mentioned Trey McBride um with Kyler Murray last year he was on a 112 catch Pace um with Kyler Murray he had either five catches a touchdown or both in all eight games they played together last year is there still enough of a a piece of the pie here you mentioned how much Drew petting likes to run the football is there still enough a piece of the pie here for Trey McBride to replicate the 81 catches that he had a season ago keeping in mind that he was on 112 catch Pace with Kyler Murr it's a great question it's a question we get asked a lot on phnx Cardinals here's what I will say the Cardinals run a version of the Kyle Shanahan offense which features George KD they I think are going to be an extension of what Ben Johnson did in Detroit which had Sam Le eat amongst Jameson Williams and Aman Ron St Brown like I think they're going to be enough targets I don't think they're going to be as Trey McBride dependent because how could they I think it's realistic to expect similar receiving numbers in terms of 800 yards but I think the touchdowns go up significantly at three last year he's gonna have much more I would say eased coverage in the Red Zone like they were putting number one corners on him Jaylen Johnson when they went to Chicago shadowed Trey McBride like you can't do that now with Marvin Harrison Jr so he's going to have third Corners safeties off ball linebackers I think he could reach eight to 10 touchdowns receiving wise and that's that's more than enough to justify it from a fantasy perspective but you're right like with Michael Wilson coming into his own the arrival mhj like Trey McBride I I think here here's the rebuttal to my argument he only started 12 games last year like they were still trotting out Zack hers for the first quarter of the year plus as really kind of a make good to Zack Herz he's a he's a veteran I think he's a borderline Hall of Famer and so they allowed Zack hers to kind of ease into the season before releasing him just wasn't healthy after his torn ACL so if you just say okay well Trey is gonna be the starter for 17 weeks I can wrap my mind around 800 900 yards that's that's roughly what 50 yards per game I think Trey can hit that but I don't think 100 catches that's asking a lot man yeah so Tip Reiman um they also and I want to clarify something they drafted tip Ryman the Titan end out Illinois he's a massive guy yeah you big powerful guy um and but he's he's fast but he's um he's essentially a lighter offensive tackle do you think he poses any threat to try McBride's receiving roll at all zero uh and we had his offensive coordinator offensive line coach on our show uh right after the draft and they they underutilized him in part because they had some deficiencies a quarterback in Illinois and he's somebody that went from a projected late day three pick to oh this guy's got historic metrics and so he's going to go just because this is how works in the NFL now he's going to go top 100 I think they have a nice secondary tight end in Elijah Higgins that was a converted wide receiver from Stanford that they really like last year but Trey McBride's one of one and so I think tip Ryman I think you could see tip and a Kyle yek role I think you'd see him obviously as a six offensive lineman but he's an he's an elite run blocker that's why they drafted him they want to be able to run the football so it was a little Rich for me by the way when they took him with a top 90 pick but they also had I think like seven top 90 picks this year so they can Splurge a little bit on a run blocker if they Trey Benson wanted to well let's get to that running game obviously James Conor still in town and well at fantasy points we will always we will never um we will never undersell the fact that we are constantly wrong on James Connor oh this has got to be the year you know he's gonna he's gonna uh finally just his body's gonna give out but one of those top 100 picks you mentioned was spent on Trey Benson is and let's let's look at ADP right now average draft position on Underdog fantasy we have James Conor going as the 27th running back off the board we have Trey Benson going off as the 30th running back and this is across all drafts so there is an expectation among the fantasy community at least that Trey Benson's GNA come in here and have an immediate role Andor if James Connor gets hurt is gonna become kind of a Bell cow back in the James Conor style how do you see Trey Benson's role shaking out as a rookie it's it's really hard to Telegraph because when James is healthy he's a top 10 back in the NF unquestioned but he always misses time like you're just you're signing up for I think 13 14 games at Best um and he played his best football at the end of last year like he running over people week 15 16 17 he averaged over five yards per carry he his first 10,00 yard receiving our rushing season in his career which is which is crazy so he's also a captain he's also the one of the most if not the Most High character guy they have on the roster like they they are not going to brush him aside he is going to get the bulk share the carries now I think Halloween Thanksgiving you you could see a little bit more of a platoon and of course at any point if James goes down like Michael Carter Jr is around but he is the more change of paac guy like Trey Benson would start for them so I think initially if I had to put a percentage on it 65% James Conor maybe 25% uh Trey Benson and then whatever's left over 10% Michael Carter uh who who looked really good by the way they claimed him they wanted him on the roster this year but barring something unforeseen let's say Trey Benson God forbid has an injury or just doesn't look good like this this is Trey Benson's backfield in 2025 and if you're hedging yeah it's smart to take him early because you saw the production from James Conor in this offense with not a lot of household names what can Trey Benson do late this year and in 2025 in an offense that's absolutely loaded with mhj and and Michael Wilson and Trey McBride and Paris Johnson Jr tackle like it is a you know rollsroyce for a running back in today's NFL like they they they came from Cleveland they came from Detroit we saw those two Run games at the highest level in the NFL like that's what the Cardinals want to do and you got a piece of it last year yeah James Conor by the way not under contract Beyond this year it's not not not even a oh they can save money by cutting him it's literally his contract expires after this year so um the Cardinals really didn't have much of the wide receiver position last year at all WR2 they drafted Marvin Harrison but still Beyond Marvin Harrison you have a bunch of well you know you got this guy and Michael Wilson kind of interesting but like in the fantasy Community sometimes we like to light the dorch torch man like I I argue that Greg dorch was better at being rondale Moore than rondale Moore was I mean like he was more productive in the same role um but of the names here that are that are relatively interesting Michael Wilson Greg dorch and then a guy who I've been drafted a lot late in best ball drafts so far Z Jones who they picked up from the Jaguars which of those guys has the best chance to be third on this team in targets behind Marvin Harrison and Trey McBride Michael Wilson like I can say that with 100% confidence and I love Greg dorch uh and I'm intrigued by Z Jones let's talk Z Jones is a depth signing and I he can play all three positions but that's only if something goes wrong with mhj Michael Wilson or Greg dorch let's let's call a spade a spade there Greg dorch is their primary returner and I don't think that they want to run a lot of 11 personel like if you're running one to two receiver sets it's Michael Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr so by that equation Michael Wilson is the option Michael Wilson stays healthy I have full confidence in same it's a guy who's going to creep toward a thousand yards and five to seven touchdowns like I I've I've banged this drum on multiple shows this off season he went into San Francisco last year with Joshua dobs seven targets seven receptions and two touchdowns like he has the physical ability to be a very nice dare I say t Higgins compliment to the Jamar Chase mhj equation like that's a real comparison I think has warranted um but can he stay healthy he was hurt Stamford he was dominant at training camp for rebuilding Cardinal team last year and then hit a rookie wall and missed a little bit of time but then came back and played really well go look at his finale against Seattle almost 100 yards best receiving game of his of his season cooking with Kyler Murray and Kyler Murray on record yesterday meeting with the media Michael Wilson is a beast he gonna have a big year so I again I I'm trying to emphasize to everybody do not overthink this I love Greg dorch he has a podcast on our Network at phnx sports he is the underneath slot receiver Return Man Michael Wilson is the number two receiver for the Arizona Cardinals that was drafted by this regime with a top 100 pick if he is healthy like it would not surprise me against the Buffalo Bills in week one if he had more receiving yards than Marvin Harrison Jr because he's not going to be double covered anymore he's not going to have number one Corners that's that's going to go to mhj so he's he's the perfect compliment for what they want to do plus when they run the football they're not running the football with undersized receivers Ron Delmore Greg dor they took those guys out purposely Marvin and Michael are able to help with that and thus they're just going to see Outro more time on the field I need to reevaluate my portfolio when I'm uh when I have a lot more Z Jones who's cheaper than Michael Wilson by the way but I have a lot more Z Jones and Michael Wilson you have sold me Johnny venerable you can catch Johnny venerable at phn X Cardinals in the phnx Cardinals podcast he does absolutely wonderful job with his co-host Bo Brack his Twitter handle is at Johnny venerable that is a real name um I I think I mentioned last year it sounds like an awesome pro wrestling heel name um but uh regardless I think our our our listeners can see that uh uh and can hear that you are not a heel you are an absolute Authority on All Things Arizona Cardinals Johnny it's been wonderful talking to you again this year thank you guys thanks so much for the support we appreciate it look forward to chatting uh in the coming months [Music]