With the No. 49 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, the Cardinals select Purdue wide receiver Rondale Moore….
Rondale Moore Career Statistics
| YEAR | AGE | Gm | REC | REYDS | RETD | RuAtt | RuYD | RuTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 18.6 | 13 | 114 | 1258 | 12 | 21 | 213 | 2 |
| 2019 | 19.6 | 4 | 29 | 387 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2020 | 20.6 | 3 | 35 | 270 | 0 | 6 | 32 | 1 |
The YAC machine of this class, Moore had a stellar 114-1,258-12 line receiving as an 18-year-old freshman to go along with 213 yards and two scores on the ground. That includes putting up 12-170-2 receiving against an Ohio State defense that put half of that season’s defense into the NFL. On the strength of that 2018 season, Moore enters this draft as the leader in receptions (8.9) and receiving yardage (95.8 yards) per game in this draft class over his collegiate career.
Where Moore (the second-youngest wide receiver in this draft class) has early-age production on his side, he also has injuries and size as potential thorns. Hamstring injuries limited Moore to just seven games his final two seasons at Purdue.
A physical player for his size (5’7”, 180 pounds) we are still going to have to rely on an NFL coaching staff to get Moore volume and use him correctly more so than other wide receivers in this class. There is just not a large sample of Moore winning as a downfield wide receiver. 78% of Moore’s career receptions were within 10 yards of the line scrimmage. The only other prospect close in that regard is Kadarius Toney at 67%.
At his Pro Day, Moore verified everything we already knew about him. His size is always going to be question and his arm length (28 1/4) and hand size (8 3/4) do not signal someone who is going to be used downfield in the NFL, but was still a stellar athlete, registering a 59th percentile speed score, 83rd percentile explosion score, and 75th percentile agility score.
Moore is a perfect fit for the offense Arizona runs as Kliff Kingsbury can just spam screens and mesh paired with a high play count and fast pace. He can make an immediate impact.
Arizona has used three or more wide receivers on 67% and 71% of their plays the past two years under Kliff Kingsbury, but still have yet to find wideouts to step up on their depth chart outside of DeAndre Hopkins.
Non-Hopkins wideouts for Arizona last season totaled just 1,477 yards on 143 receptions for nine touchdowns. As a group, they averaged 6.8 yards per target while Hopkins was at 8.8 yards per look.
2020 may have put an end to us chasing a pending breakout from Christian Kirk after he totaled 48-621-6 in 14 games played. Kirk missed multiple games for the third straight season while his 3.4 receptions per game were his fewest in a season over his three years in the league.
2019 second rounder Andy Isabella has accounted for just 30 catches for 413 yards and three touchdowns over his first two seasons in the league. Just Hopkins (through 2024), Isabella (2022), and KeeSean Johnson (2022) are currently under contract past this upcoming season.
The Cardinals also added A.J. Green on a one-year deal after the veteran wideout set career-lows with 2.9 receptions and 32.7 yards per game in 2020 despite receiving 104 targets. We can use “targets” loosely here as just 49.5% of his looks were deemed catchable, the lowest rate among all wideouts that received 30 or more targets a year ago, but Green also shares some of that burden as all of the other Cincinnati wideouts had a 71.1% catchable target rate.
Early 2021 Rondale Moore Projection: 95 targets, 66 receptions, 714 yards, 4 TD, 33 carries, 199 yards, 1 TD
