Kenyan Drake may have had a career year in 2020, but it sure doesn’t look like the Cardinals are interested in re-signing him.
Drake racked up a career-high 955 yards and 10 touchdowns, while catching 25 balls as well, but the trend in the NFL is that teams simply don’t pay running backs. And it’s hard to see the Cardinals finding the money to pay Drake, given the two-year, $54-million contract they awarded DeAndre Hopkins after trading for him. Not only that, they may have to pay Kyler Murray at some point down the road as well, as he won’t be on a rookie contract forever.
And Drake is 26 years old, which is essentially 30 in running back age. He’s had some injury issues as well, having played only 29 games in the past three seasons with the Cardinals. And given that he played 15 in his most recent campaign, it’s fair to question if he’ll be able to stay healthy in 2021.
Drake is set to hit free agency in just a few weeks, and given what Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury recently said about Chase Edmonds, it sure looks like they plan to roll with the young guy on a rookie deal going forward.
“As far as Chase goes, you’ve seen when he’s had his opportunity, he’s played at a starting running back level,” Kingsbury said, via Pro Football Talk. “We all understand that he’s unfortunately been nicked up a couple times, which we want to keep him on the field. But we have all the confidence in the world in Chase and him being able to be the bell cow if that’s how this plays out.”
Some NFL team will pay Drake, but it’s unlikely that it’ll be the Cardinals.
