James Conner suffered a season-ending foot injury in Week 3 last September, and the Arizona Cardinals’ backfield never recovered. Without their lead back and with injuries to Trey Benson and Emari Demercado, Arizona’s ground game cratered to 93.1 rushing yards per game, the second-lowest mark in the league, and the team stumbled to a 3-14 finish, tied for the worst record in football.
Arizona responded aggressively in the offseason, first by signing Tyler Allgeier, and then used the No. 3 overall pick on Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love. Due to these additions, CBS Sports’ Carter Bahns argued Conner is likely to get traded by the Cardinals.
James Conner Is an Ideal Trade Target for Contending Teams
Before his injury, Conner was coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons for the first time in his career, rushing for 1,040 yards in 2023 and a career-high 1,094 yards with eight touchdowns in 2024. He earned two Pro Bowl selections across his nine NFL seasons, the first with Pittsburgh in 2018 and the second with Arizona in 2021, when he scored 15 rushing touchdowns.
Over his five years with the Cardinals, Conner has compiled 3,763 rushing yards and 38 rushing touchdowns. According to PFN’s RB Impact Metric, he posted an impact score of 79.3 in 2024, ranking 10th in the league. In 2023, he ranked fourth in the league with an impact score of 83.1.
The Cardinals got younger and more explosive at the position this spring, and that’s what makes Conner expendable.
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“Following the selection of Jeremiyah Love with the No. 3 overall draft pick and the arrival of Tyler Allgeier in free agency, the Cardinals have two young ballcarriers under team control for multiple years,” Bahns wrote. “Conner, 31, is an aging veteran on a rebuilding team who is coming off surgery and holds an expiring contract. Those are all the ingredients for an impending breakup.”
“What’s more, the Cardinals reworked Conner’s contract in March to reduce his cap hit from $9.83 million to $4.83 million,” he continued. “It is suddenly much more affordable to move on from a player who has done nothing but fall down the depth chart this offseason. Once he shows in training camp that he is recovered from his injury, contenders in need of a No. 1 or high-end No. 2 running back ought to come calling.”
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Every year, injuries in training camp create sudden needs at the position, and a two-time Pro Bowler with Conner’s resume would immediately upgrade most backfields. He has proven he can handle a workhorse role, and he remains a capable pass catcher with 165 receptions in 60 games across his Cardinals tenure.
Arizona’s priority is to maximize the return on Love’s draft slot, and to do so, the team will need to part ways with Conner. New head coach Mike LaFleur’s offense has to run through the rookie running back from day one, and Allgeier will slot in as the change-of-pace and short-yardage complement behind him.
Conner’s cap hit is manageable but unnecessary for a rebuilding team that should rather allocate those resources elsewhere. It will be interesting to see whether a contender pulls the trigger before the season starts, or if the Cardinals ride out the summer and revisit a deal closer to the trade deadline.
