One of the huge questions facing the Arizona Cardinals as the season approaches is how they will handle the six-game suspension of DeAndre Hopkins. He will get to practice in training camp but then will be away from the team for the first six games of the season.
Last year, when he went down first with a hamstring injury and then a season-ending knee injury, the Cardinals, rather than moving a bunch of guys around, kept players in the regular roles — A.J. Green at the ‘Z’, Christian Kirk in the slot, Zach Ertz at tight end and Rondale Moore in the slot and in there as the fourth receiver — and Antoine Wesley, the backup ‘X’, slid into Hopkins’ spot.
It made sense in many ways to not disrupt four or guy guys’ roles midseason, but this offseason, with months to prepare, it appears they will go with a different approach.
Ertz, appearing on the Dave Pasch Podcast, suggested there will be more moving around.
“You can never replace a guy like DeAndre, let’s just throw that out there,” he said. “You can scheme you can do whatever you want. The respect the moment he crosses those lines on Sunday, there are maybe three other guys on the face of the earth that demand that same attention that D-Hop brings to the team.
“We have to find ways to put guys in position not replace but replicate some of his production. Maybe I go play some ‘X’ receiver. I did that a lot bit in Philly. Maybe some of the other guys — Rondale (Moore) — goes outside a little more. But I think when you have additional time, it obviously helps.
Getting offseason reps and reps in training camp at the ‘X’ for multiple guys will help prepare for the season.
We should expect to see Marquise Brown out there a lot and even perhaps A.J. Green. But if Brown, Ertz and Moore all get looks, ideally there won’t be as much of a dropoff as when he went down midseason.
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