3 Players Who Won't Be on the Cardinals Roster Next Season

The 2020 season ended in disappointing fashion for the Arizona Cardinals, after a tiebreaker kept them from making the postseason. The Cardinals were a dark horse Super Bowl pick by some for most of the year, so for them to come up short of the playoffs was certainly a surprise.

Now, like every NFL franchise, Arizona will have to decide which players are a part of their future as NFL free agency approaches. A few of the headliners in that discussion include Kenyan Drake, Patrick Peterson and future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald (who is still contemplating retirement), but here are the three players least likely to be Cardinals in 2021.

3. Zane Gonzalez, K

It's beginning to look like Zane Gonzalez's 2019 performance was an outlier after all. The strong-legged kicker is only approaching his age-26 season, but three out of his first four years in the NFL have been poor. In 2020 he battled injuries, hitting only 72.7 percent of his field goals by the end of the campaign. His inconsistency was a major reason why Arizona missed the playoffs, and now he is an impending free agent once again. With Mike Nugent already on the roster and Brett Maher recently signed to a futures contract, Gonzalez could easily see himself out of a job if he doesn't agree to a pay cut this offseason.

2. Haason Reddick, OLB

After an offseason where he saw his name constantly involved in trade rumors, Haason Reddick silenced critics with a career-season in 2020. The outside linebacker ended up with 12.5 sacks, which ranked fourth in the NFL. Being that the Cardinals already attempted to replace Reddick in the past by bringing in players like Markus Golden, Devon Kennard, Jordan Hicks, Isaiah Simmons, De'Vondre Campbell and more, it's hard to see them paying him now. They could always franchise-tag Reddick for one more season, but if not the edge rusher probably cashes in elsewhere.

1. Kenyan Drake, RB

Out of the three "headliners" I mentioned earlier, Kenyan Drake is the least likely to return. Drake joined the Cardinals via trade in 2019 and was rewarded for his late-season boost with a one-year deal in 2020. Things did not go as well for the running back in his encore, and now Drake seems very replaceable heading into this offseason. Backup Chase Edmonds was arguably more efficient than him in 2020 for starters, with a better clip per carry (4.6 yards compared to 4.0) and much more of an influence in the passing game. They could also choose to upgrade on Drake in free agency or the draft, with plenty of options available.

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Michael Obermuller is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Michael Obermuller also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username king_mizzard. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.