The Arizona Cardinals are going to use Andre Ellington an awful lot this year, but the team is still cautious about having him run inside the tackles. The Cardinals will employ more two-back formations so they can get Ellington moving out of the backfield as a receiver and to, presumably, keep up the threat of inside runs with that second back, according to Kent Somers of azcentral.com.
Cardinals will avoid using Andre Ellington inside; RB will still get plenty of touches for fantasy owners
Andre Ellington won’t be taking many inside runs this season. We break down the fantasy implications.
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The Cardinals were hesitant to give Ellington many touches as a rookie for various reasons, though the most discussed was that they were worried about his durability. Keeping him away from those inside runs is definitely one way to help ensure he doesn’t get injured. It will be some time before he shakes the perception of not being able to handle a feature back role given his size.
Still, the Cardinals want to give Ellington as many touches as any other feature back in the league. They want to “get the ball to Ellington 20 or so times a game,” according to Somers, and a good percentage of those touches would be via the passing game.
Fantasy Impact: This news isn’t surprising in the least. Ellington has a long way to go before he’s trusted to be “the” feature back, but he’s going to get plenty of touches. He’s a strong fantasy option at the running back position and should be considered relatively early on for a second running back.
