Trey McBride News

McBride was one of the few bright spots for the Cardinals in a forgettable season finale. The rookie tight end finishes with 29 receptions for 265 yards and a touchdown, with most of that production coming down the stretch in place of injured starter Zach Ertz (knee). The latter had major surgery to his knee in November, so McBride could continue starting for Arizona to begin the 2023 campaign.

McBride showed immediate rapport with David Blough and tied for the team lead in targets. He turned that into career-high marks in receptions and yards, highlighted by long gains of 26, 16 and 14 yards. In addition to the big plays, McBride hauled in his first career touchdown on a four-yard catch early in the second quarter. McBride had a slow start to his rookie season, but he now has at least three receptions in five of his last six games.

The rookie tight end's target count and playing time (he logged 85 percent of the offensive snaps) didn't change much with Trace McSorley directing the offense, but McBride's efficiency trended back down along with most of Arizona's other pass catchers except for Greg Dortch (10 catches for 98 yards) while the third-string quarterback was at the helm. Colt McCoy has since cleared the NFL's concussion protocol and should take back the reins of the offense from McSorley while Kyler Murray (knee) is sidelined, but McBride is still likely to remain a highly volatile performer who will need to score a touchdown to generate a notable fantasy line.

McBride has operated as Arizona's top tight end since Zach Ertz (knee) went down in Week 10, though entering Sunday's game he had yet to top 28 receiving yards in a game. However, McBride showed particularly strong rapport with Trace McSorley and managed lengthy receptions of 29 and 14 yards to account for the majority of his production. With both DeAndre Hopkins and Marquise Brown still dominating targets, McBride could see inconsistent usage to close his rookie campaign, though Sunday's performance was still encouraging.

After notching three receptions total (all in Week 4) in the first eight appearances of his career, the 2022 second-round pick now has at least one catch in four consecutive games. His boost in usage coincided with Zach Ertz's season-ending injury to his left knee, and McBride has responded with a cumulative 9-50-0 line on 14 targets during the aforementioned span. McBride may be forced to work with backup quarterback Colt McCoy for the rest of the campaign after Kyler Murray left Monday's outing early due to a knee injury of his own, so while the snaps will be there for the rookie tight end to take advantage of, the play under center may not be consistent enough to produce.

McBride continues to pace Cardinals tight ends in snap share (79 percent Sunday) since Zach Ertz suffered a season-ending knee injury early in Week 10, with Maxx Williams (26 percent) and Stephen Anderson (18) well behind the rookie second-round pick. Still, McBride hasn't done much with the increased workload, recording a cumulative 6-22-0 line on eight targets over the last three games. His play count can expect to remain high, but wide receivers DeAndre Hopkins and Marquise Brown will continue to dominate looks from quarterback Kyler Murray.