After a puzzling start to Marvin Harrison Jr.’s season, the Cardinals have decided to part ways with the former No. 4 overall pick. On Sunday, Harrison Jr. and a 2027 seventh-round pick were traded to the Texans in exchange for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
With Harrison Jr. out of town, Kendrick Bourne moves up the depth chart and is now the No. 2 receiver for the Cardinals, but how valuable is he for fantasy and should we be perusing him off the waiver wire this week?
Kendrick Bourne’s Fantasy Outlook
With the Harrison Jr. trade pending, the wideout was inactive for the Cardinals’ matchup vs. the Lions this past Sunday and Bourne was productive in Harrison Jr.’s absence, catching 5-of-8 targets for 70 yards (12 FPTS).
Bourne’s usage was encouraging, with him seeing a 14.6% target share while running a route on 59.3% of his team’s dropbacks. Bourne saw one red-zone target, one target over 20 yards and he averaged 2.2 YPPR.
The veteran is seeing a target on 21% of his routes with Harrison Jr. off the field this season and Bourne has flashed strong upside when given an ample role the last two seasons. In the four games he has seen 8+ targets, Bourne has generated 27.2, 22.2, 15.5 and 12 FPTS.
In addition to the strong workload Bourne is going to see with Harrison Jr. out of the equation, the Cardinals are a very fantasy-friendly offense, given they pass the ball at a high rate and find themselves in shootouts often, thanks to their terrible defense – Arizona ranks 30th in defensive EPA per play and ninth in PROE this season.
Bourne is a viable WR3 going forward and grabbing him off the waiver wire this week makes a ton of sense for teams that are thin at receiver and for leagues that are full PPR formats. On Yahoo, Bourne is only rostered in 7% of leagues.
