Should I Draft Blake Corum or Trey Benson in Fantasy Football This Year?

Fantasy football gets exciting when a new rookie breaks onto the scene and becomes the next must-have player on your team.

Each season, we examine rookies based on their college production and the team they landed with. Sometimes, we’re right, and sometimes, we’re wrong about how they’ll do.

Here, I’ll be looking at two rookies in Arizona Cardinals running back Trey Benson and Los Angeles Rams running back Blake Corum.

Benson is going as the RB40 in PPR leagues, while Corum is one spot behind at RB41.
Below, I’ll examine the fantasy outlook for each and provide a fantasy football strategy for who to take.

2024 Fantasy Outlook for Trey Benson

Benson joins the Cardinals after getting selected No. 66 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft out of Florida State. The Cardinals’ running back depth chart consists of Benson, James Conner, Emari Demercado, and more. However, I’m really only worried about Conner in terms of who will take opportunities away from Benson.

According to TruMedia, Conner had 208 carries for 1,040 yards and seven rushing touchdowns in 2023. He added 27 catches on 33 targets for 165 yards and two scores. This was all in 13 games.

As for Benson, he’ll have fresh legs after rushing 310 times across 2022 and 2023 with the Seminoles. While he didn’t have the 250-300 carries most bell-cow backs have, Benson is built well at 6’1″ and more than 210 pounds.

In his final season with the team, Benson had 156 carries for 906 yards and 14 touchdowns. He averaged 5.8 yards per carry and caught 20 passes for 227 yards and another score.

Of Benson’s 310 carries over the past two seasons, 54 of them went for plays of 10+ yards (17.4%).

The good news for Benson is that Conner hasn’t played a full season in the NFL at any point in his career. He’s played 13 games in each of the last two seasons.

The Cardinals have a Week 11 bye week.

2024 Fantasy Outlook for Blake Corum

Comments coming out of the Rams’ staff this offseason have been perplexing, to say the least.

According to Sarah Barshop of ESPN, the team wants to keep starting running back Kyren Williams “fresh.” He averaged 22 touches per game last season, and bringing in Corum seems to signal that we could see that come down a bit to preserve a player who finished third in the NFL in rushing despite missing five games.

Corum enters the NFL as the No. 83 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He was a monster at Michigan, rushing 674 times for 3,737 yards and 58 touchdowns across four seasons. As a senior, he rushed 258 times for 1,245 yards and 27 touchdowns.

So, yeah, he’s been incredibly productive, but it remains to be seen how the Rams use this duo.

The Rams have a Week 6 bye week.

Who Should I Draft in 2024?

This is an extremely difficult choice to make.

With Benson, he’s behind a guy in Conner who’s been productive despite missing games and who will get plenty of carries. Still, Conner has missed time, so there’s a realistic chance we see Benson draw a few starts.

As for Corum, it seems like this is going to be somewhat of a committee, but it favors Williams. Williams had 20 carries or more in seven of the 12 games he played and has plenty of pass-catching upside.

The Rams averaged 27.4 rush attempts per game (13th) in the NFL, so there is a realm where Corum has some flex potential, but it’s certainly shaky at best.

So, here, you’re really picking between what feels like a player in Benson, who will get some work but is relegated to a true backup role pending injury, or Corum, who may see 7-10 touches per game.

I lean Benson here because of Conner’s injury history, but if you take him, make sure you have running backs ready to be your weekly starters. I don’t think he can provide that unless Conner gets hurt.

However, if you’re looking for a flex spot or lack running back depth, Corum should have some kind of floor.

Overall, this is a wait-and-see approach with both of these NFC West offenses and talented backs.