With the 2021 NFL free agency period just days away, the question for the Arizona Cardinals is who would be the perfect fit for them?
Pro Football Focus gave a perfect free agent acquisition for each team in the NFL and for the Cardinals, it was a wide receiver:
ARIZONA CARDINALS: WR JUJU SMITH-SCHUSTER
2020 team: Steelers | Age entering 2021 season: 24
The Cardinals need someone who can work the middle of the field to take some heat off No. 1 wideout DeAndre Hopkins. And that’s what JuJu’s game is: the underneath middle of the field.
His game fell off a bit in 2020, and it remains to be seen whether he can be a true No. 1 receiver, but the beauty is that he won’t have to be the top guy in Arizona. Smith-Schuster posted an 81.8 PFF grade as Antonio Brown‘s understudy in Pittsburgh in 2018, but that number fell to 63.1 in 2019 and 70.0 in 2020. Becoming a secondary option again might do wonders for both JuJu and the Cardinals in the make-or-break year for the Kliff Kingsbury era.
It makes sense from all aspects that PFF covers.
The Cardinals need a highly skilled player who can take pressure off of Hopkins. That player doesn’t need to be someone who can be a number one on their own, although if they can even better, but someone who knows how to be a number two and doesn’t make the waves of not being the alpha.
That is JuJu. I am sure he expected to become a number one in Pittsburgh, but it never came to fruition and now he needs a change of scenery. The Cardinals need someone that can give Hopkins some freedom, JuJu would do that.
The question is will he be worth the price tag of $16 million a year and can the Cardinals afford it?
What do you think?
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