James Conner

Third-year RB making strong push to back up James Conner The marriage between player and team was rocky. Eno Benjamin was inactive every game of his first year, and even into last season, it looked like the back's future would probably be somewhere besides where he became a college star. It's what makes Benjamin's spot now so surprising. No player on the roster has been praised more this offseason than Benjamin. And not the baseline coach-speak praise Kingsbury can sometimes dole out, but legitimate compliments to a player who he wouldn't have before. "I would've never expected him to come this far," coach Kliff Kingsbury said. Early on I didn't know if he could figure it out. Professionalism and work ethic and understanding his role and all those things. Each year he has just gotten progressively better. He's one of the hardest workers on the team now. Always upbeat, always into it. Just really come a long way." (AZcardinals.com - Darren Urban) FF Today's Take: Kingsbury has routinely praised Benjamin this offseason, as have some of his teammates. Benjamin started getting into Kingsbury's good graces toward the end of last season and appears to be pretty close to securing the backup job to James Conner. While it may be too much to ask for Benjamin to assume the same role Chase Edmonds has held in this offense, his skill-set makes it a strong possibility. Fantasy managers need to make sure he is a priority near the end of drafts.

Per Cardinals beat writer Blake Allen Murphy, the Eno [Benjamin] hype is real coming out of camp. No surprise, then that he projects Benjamin as the current #2 over Darrel Williams. Benjamin, a 7th round pick in 2020, has totaled only 34 carries in 2 seasons (all in 2021). But the buzz on him started earlier this offseason, so this type of chatter has become a trend. He s worth stashing late in drafts given James Conner s injury history.

Kyler Murray, James Conner and Rodney Hudson get rest days in the Cardinals' first practice of camp with fans in the stadium.