Scout's Take: Arizona Cardinals
Underrated: David Johnson
He came on the radar for me after running for 199 yards on Iowa State as a junior. He’s the best receiving back in the NFL, or at least a close second to Le’Veon Bell. He is able to win against safeties and linebackers. He had always been categorized as a finesse running back, but he changed his stripes in that playoff game against Green Bay.
Overrated: Mike Iupati
He hasn’t played with the same fire and physicality wearing Cardinal red as he did while wearing 49er red. I’m not sure why ... they paid him a good bit of money to get him in the building. It doesn’t seem like it carried over to having the type of physical run game they envisioned when they brought him over.
Extra Point
It seems like all along Bruce Arians’s career, he’s been knocked for not being conventional enough in his approach. It was curious that the Bears didn’t hire him, and he ended up being one of the last dominoes to fall that off-season. But now that he’s gotten his big coaching opportunity, everybody finally sees him as not only a great football mind, but also an effective communicator, an effective leader of men and an effective head football coach. The Cardinals are one of the bright lights of the NFL—one of the model franchises that show the correct ways to build a team.
