Veteran workhorse James Conner is not letting anyone take his lead role from him.
Running Back James Conner is a great example of resilience. After taking the starting role as a true freshman for the Pitt Panthers, James Conner became the top back in the nation as a sophomore. He ran for 1,765 yards and scoring 26 touchdowns. Junior year comes around Connor tears his MCL in the opening game, shortly after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Conner was thankfully cancer free by the offseason. Conner was able to return and have a productive final season in Pitt along with showing his versatility. He increased his season high in catches from 5 to 21.
James Conner has come a long ways from his cancer diagnosis and dealt with numerous injuries. Conner has never started more than 13 games in a season, but when on the field he has been a productive back. Conner’s best years have come in Arizona after a 4 year stint with the Steelers. That is expected to continue according to Cardinals beat writer Johnny Venerable. The other backs are Michael Carter and rookie Trey Benson. Venerable expects Carter to be RB2, with the rookie learning from the vets. Should Conner miss anytime, Benson is expected to become the lead back.
Fully expect Conner to continue to be the back he has been since arriving in Arizona. In his 3 seasons as a Cardinal Conner has finished as RB 7, 9 and 13, despite not appearing in every game. Conner is currently listed as RB27 in ADP, which is an absolute steal. He is not the flashy back you want but he is the one fantasy drafters want in the late rounds of every draft. As long as he is healthy, Conner has the potential for 20 point games. Look for the Cardinals to take full advantage of that.
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Running James Connor is looking to end his career in Arizona.
Running Back James Connor is entering the last year of a 3 year contract signed in 2022. He has stated he wants to finish his career as a Arizona Cardinal. Connor has been a productive back for the Cardinals in the seasons he has played. Connor eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing for the first time in his career in 2023.
It’s understandable Connor wants to retire in Arizona after his injury plagued career with the Steelers. Connor has been a great zero running back flier in the middle to late rounds. He has never been the sexy athletic running back to target, but has been reliable when healthy. Connor is worth a very deep stash best ball and redraft formats. Avoid him completely in Dynasty. I firmly believe it will be difficult for the coaching staff to keep rookie running back Trey Benson on the bench. I do not believe Connor will get his wish to retire in Arizona.
James Conner suffered a knee injury in week 5 and is eligible to return for Arizona’s week 10 matchup against the Falcons.
While his snap share through the first 5 weeks of 2023 wasn’t quite in the 90% range we saw last year, Conner asserted himself early on this season as one of the few remaining bell-cow running backs who you can count on to get roughly 20 touches per game. With Conner set to miss at least 2 more games with a knee injury, the Cardinals are forced to turn to Emari Demercado and Keaontay Ingram to handle backfield duties. Through the first 2 games Conner has been out, the backfield has been a headache for fantasy managers, but it seems like Demercado is beginning to separate himself as the lead running back.
At this point, there haven’t been a lot of updates around the progress of Conner’s injury, and it’s no guarantee he’ll be back by week 10. Some Cardinals beat writers have even teased the idea that Arizona may consider waiting to activate Conner until after their bye in week 14 if he’s not 100% healthy. Demercado should be rostered in all leagues for the time being, and it’s worthwhile to roster Ingram in deeper leagues.
In week 7, Demercado seized the lead role and handled 80% of the snaps for the Cardinals backfield while scoring 11.5 fantasy points in PPR format. This was after being the most popular waiver wire add and dropping a total dud in week 6. Fantasy Managers should double check he wasn’t dropped by a frustrated manager after his disappointing week 6, and shouldn’t be afraid to fire him up in week 8 against a Ravens Defense that has been porous against the run.
