Cardinals add WR by signing A.J. Green, fantasy impact

The Arizona Cardinals added a wide receiver Wednesday, signing ex-Bengals WR A.J. Green, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The 32-year-old Green has spent his entire 10-year with Cincinnati since the team took him with the fourth overall pick in 2011. He made the Pro Bowl in each of his first seven years, clearing 1,000 yards in six of those, but he’s struggled more recently. He was limited to nine games in 2018, missed all of 2019 to injury and had only 523 yards despite playing all 16 games last year.

After long career in Cincinnati, A.J. Green heads to Arizona

Fantasy slant: After a rough 2020 campaign, it is fair to wonder how much Green has left in the tank. Despite seeing a healthy 104 targets, Green turned them into just 47 catches for 523 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The veteran struggled to gain separation and hauled in just over 44% of his contested catch opportunities, while finishing outside of the top-100 receivers in fantasy points per snap. Green will be 33 once the season starts and while playing time should be there in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense that runs three and four-wide sets at a healthy rate, it is very fair to wonder if Green can even produce, despite being in a better offense. DeAndre Hopkins saw nearly 30% of Arizona’s targets last year, and I don’t expect that to change much with Green in town. Feel free to draft him with a late-round pick but don’t expect a huge renaissance year from the veteran wideout. — Adam Pfeifer