2026 Team Previews: Arizona Cardinals

Arizona Cardinals 2026 Preview

All ADP data is courtesy of Fantasy Pros.

** = target in drafts at this ADP

Drafted Everywhere

Trey McBride, TE (ADP: 23, TE2): McBride is the safest TE in fantasy at the moment, and arguably the highest-ceiling player as well. Some might prefer Brock Bowers, and I might even be in that camp, but McBride proved in 2025 that his breakout in 2024 was not a fluke. 2024 saw McBride put up 111 receptions for 1,146 yards, but scoring just three total touchdowns left people a little cold. After three seasons with six total touchdowns, we began wondering if this was an odd part of his game that was missing. In 2025 he put up 126 receptions, 1,239 yards – both career-highs – and he scored 11 times, nearly doubling his career total. Ultimately, this is the truest example of touchdowns not being predictive year over year.

In 2026, McBride could spike again, regress heavily, or just settle somewhere in the middle. You’re not drafting McBride here based on double-digit touchdowns. You’re drafting McBride here because he’s proven he can go for 100+ receptions and 1,100+ yards as a TE, and deliver consistently excellent performances every single week when even elite TEs are doughnut risks in any game. I tend to not draft TEs this early, but McBride has certainly earned this stature.

Jeremiyah Love, RB (ADP: 26, RB13): Love is every bit as talented as Ashton Jeanty was entering last season, and is going about 15 picks later than Jeanty did despite being on a better NFL team to kick off his career. Love’s stats weren’t quite as gaudy as Jeanty’s, but Love did share a backfield with another first-round pick (Jadarian Price), and even so his stats are plenty gaudy. Love finished 2025 with 1,372 rushing yards, 1,652 yards from scrimmage and 21 total touchdowns. He averaged 6.7 yards per carry across three seasons at Notre Dame, and never fell below 1,300 scrimmage yards or 19 touchdowns once he became “the guy.”

It’s fair to shy away from a rookie RB when his ADP is among very proven veterans, but we do see rookie RBs annually make massive impacts, and Love is a special talent on par with the cream of the crop we’ve seen of late. It’s hard to imagine a talent as prodigious as Love, with the draft capital expended on him, not be heavily used as Arizona’s feature back. The fact that he can contribute through the air as well increases my certainty that he will be a force from Week 1. There’s definitely no value to be mined at this ADP, but it’s not a crazy place to take him either.

**Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (ADP: 75, WR32): Harrison’s stock is dropping fast after two disappointing seasons to begin his career. As a rookie, he was billed as a generational talent who turned in an 885-yard, eight-touchdown, 62-catch campaign. Those are very solid rookie numbers, but not solid when he was being taken in Round 2. The world expected different usage in Year 2, but we didn’t get it, and in a banged-up season very little had changed for him. Across the board his numbers fell, but he was the same dude; he averaged 0.5 more yards per catch, 1.4 yard less per game, and 0.2 fewer catches. He was exactly the same, and with the missed time, he produced way behind his ADP for a second consecutive season. Now, he’s being viewed as a fringe WR3 and while I get it…I think there’s hope. When I look at his profile, I can’t help but see things that point to a potentially dominant outside receiver who would really benefit from being moved around more than he is. There are things about his game that can explain away the Cardinals’ stubbornness about his usage. He was beating man at an 80th-percentile clip (74.8%), and he beat press at a similar rate (75.4%, 77th percentile). He was dominant on go routes (60.6%, 12.3% of his routes) and digs (85.2%) as well as slants (81.7%). It seems, however, that his numbers are hit to a degree because of his QBs. Kyler Murray is famously averse to throwing over the middle, and 20% of Harrison’s routes were digs. He wins ‘em, and Murray threw it elsewhere. Then he had Jacoby Brissett take over, and while Brissett had the big numbers, he just wasn’t locked in on Harrison the way he was with Michael Wilson and McBride.

We have new brains in Arizona running things, and maybe they’ll make it a point to take this player whom some considered “generational,” and vary his usage to maximize him. Harrison was much better vs. man than zone, but a 78.5% success rate against zone is a very solid mark, and one that can absolutely improve! The production through two seasons has been mid, there’s no debating it, but looking under the hood reveals very few problems with Harrison as a receiver. He’s a clear example of a good player in a system that wasn’t using him properly, or making his success a priority. Now that his value is down, I’m very comfortable taking a shot on him as a WR3 because the ceiling is sky high.

Michael Wilson, WR (ADP: 90, WR35): Wilson is now being drafted essentially as Harrison’s equivalent, and their production last season, combined with the stature of the two heading into ’25 makes it makes sense. Harrison was a letdown, while Wilson morphed into an elite player once Brissett took the reins. Wilson broke through for his first 1,000-yard season, and scored a career-best seven touchdowns. Here’s the crazy part, from Weeks 1-10 Wilson never had more than four receptions, seven targets or 61 yards. In fact, Wilson put up fewer than 20 yards in each of the first five games of the season. From Week 11 on, Wilson averaged seven receptions, 96.9 yards and he scored six of his seven touchdowns. In that eight-game span to close the season, Wilson went for 115+ yards three times, was below 50 yards just once, caught double-digit passes three times and scored at least once in each of the final five games.

Wilson was almost as good vs. man and press as Harrison last year, and far worse vs. zone, making the case for Harrison to move around much more. Wilson’s always been a good receiver hiding in plain sight, but the explosion to end last year really did feel just a bit fluky. I like the player, and I do not really take issue with this ADP, but it’s not difficult for me to decide I’d rather gamble on Harrison than Wilson. A return to the early-season, low-target outings seems unlikely, but we can’t disregard that he was waiver wire fodder last year for longer than he was a league-winner. I think this is a solid ADP, but it’s not quite the bargain that his second-half breakout suggests.  

Interesting Players

Tyler Allgeier, RB (ADP: 134, RB43): Poor Tyler Allgeier, who was a shockingly good fantasy RB as a rookie in Atlanta who was shoved aside by the arrival of Bijan Robinson. He finally leaves in free agency, signs with a team that has a path to a bell cow role, and they go ahead and draft another elite RB to play in front of him. Allgeier consistently rates as a better back than his production shows because outside of his rookie season, he’s only been allowed to ply his trade in a limited capacity. He’ll have involvement this season, but make no mistake, Love will be “the guy” here. Allgeier still scored eight times in 2025 despite it being Bijan Robinson’s best as a pro, so goal line work could be part of what he does this year. It won’t be predictable, and the volume is unlikely to rise to the level of a weekly FLEX.

I see major potential for him in the event of a Love injury, and I think his talent alone makes him a worthy handcuff, but outside of injury I am not seeing a path to relevance.

Deep Cuts

Jacoby Brissett, QB (ADP: 210, QB30): It’s pretty rare to see the Year 10 QB breakout, but it’s kind of what we got with Brissett last season. He took over for Murray and wound up starting 12 games, finishing with 3,366 yards and 23 touchdowns. Much like with Wilson, Brissett became a rock-solid fantasy option provided you could get past the sheer weirdness of deploying Jacoby Brissett at age 33 in the 10th season of his career in meaningful fantasy matchups. Brissett started from Week 6 all the way through Week 18, and in those 12 games he averaged 280.5 yards per game and 1.9 touchdowns. He threw two or more touchdown passes in 10 of those 12 games, and surpassed 300 yards four times. And here’s the crazy thing…I don’t think it’s impossible for Brissett to be a solid fantasy option again!

He’s not ranked that way, clearly, and he’s not going to do much running so you’re really going to rely on him needing to throw a ton once again and for him to keep throwing for touchdowns. The good news is it won’t cost you anything, and when you really dig into that sample, his yards per game in that span were more than MVP Matthew Stafford! I’m not recommending you rely on Brissett in Week 1 to be your year-long starter, but if you decide to go a risky route with say, Kyler Murray or Malik Willis, Brissett can be taken with your last pick as a bit of a safety net.

James Conner, RB (ADP: 193, RB57): Conner is a 31-year-old back coming off a severe foot injury, and had a physical style that he thrived on despite already lacking high-level speed or elusiveness. The decisions to draft Love and bring in Allgeier signal that the Cardinals are likely past treating Conner as anything like a featured back in this offense. Injuries can always hit, and if Conner can get back to form he’s a guy who can add value as a pass catcher and near the goal line. But I don’t expect him to see the field in these scenarios anymore without multiple injuries in front of him, and I don’t think he’s even a viable handcuff vs. Allgeier. It’s tough to see the fantasy stalwarts fade, but that’s where we’re at.