James Conner

The Cardinals offense hasn't made it easy for Conner the last three years, with dysfunctional blocking and poor passing making it easy for defenses to lock onto the running back. Undeterred, Conner has thrived in Arizona throughout it all, including his first 1,000-yard rushing season in 2023 despite missing four games (while averaging 5.0 yards per carry). In 41 games with the Cardinals, he's scored 36 touchdowns and caught 84.6 percent of his targets, making him one of the few power backs in the league that also excels on passing downs. The one fair question with Conner and his fantasy utility is the question of durability. He suffers injuries more often than most running backs, which makes sense given that his running style entails constant high-impact collisions as he grinds his way through defenses. Conner has missed multiple games in each of his seven pro seasons, though never more than six in any one year. He's often provided RB1 utility when healthy, including last season, averaging at least 15.7 touches and 71.5 total yards per game six years running. The Cardinals may also use third-round pick Trey Benson and 2023 UDFA Emari Demercado in an effort to keep their veteran starter healthy, but Conner still figures to be the clear starter and lead guy for what should be an improved Arizona offense.

It's a shame that a player as skilled and tenacious as Conner can't play for a competitive team, because he's good enough to be a starter in a standout offense. Unfortunately, the Cardinals don't appear to be any such thing, and Conner has a long history of injury concerns pulling his floor down even further. On the other hand, there's a nice ceiling if he stays healthy and the Cardinals commit to the run and can move the ball some on offense. Conner did nice work his first two seasons with Arizona, scoring 26 touchdowns and catching 83 passes in 28 games. As those numbers imply, Conner is tough to stop at the goal line and also one of the best pass catchers among big backs. His bruising methods exact a toll on his durability – he missed time with rib and shin troubles at separate points in 2022 – but that punishing style is also what affords him the ability to produce while dealing with poor blocking and bad playcalling in Arizona.

After four injury-plagued seasons in Pittsburgh, Conner signed a one-year, prove-it deal with Arizona, where it was thought he might work in a committee with Chase Edmonds if he could stay healthy for the first time in a few years. Instead it was Edmonds who was the less durable of the two backs, and Conner erupted in the lead role with 394 rushing yards, 341 receiving yards and 10 total TDs over his final seven games. The big campaign earned him a three-year deal with the Cardinals and another chance at a No. 1 role. Conner did a large portion of his damage at the goal line, especially earlier in the year when he was in a committee, with all 15 of his scores on the ground coming inside the 20-yard line. It's a good thing he was able to find the end zone so often and catch 37 of 39 targets, as he averaged only 3.7 yards per carry. To be fair, a combination of short-yardage work and poor offensive line play played a role in limiting him to 3.7 YPC, with Conner's 1.6 yards before contact per carry ranking second worst in the league. He nearly stayed healthy the entire year, but ultimately missed multiple games for a fifth time in as many seasons, sitting out Weeks 16-17 with a rib injury. Conner's physical running style may always leave him injury-prone, but with Edmonds now in Miami he doesn't have a lot of competition for touches in the Arizona backfield — the other options are Darrel Williams, Eno Benjamin and sixth-round pick Keaontay Ingram.

The 2020 season started out like gangbusters for Conner as he racked up three 100-yard performances in the first five weeks. Unfortunately, by the end of the year he was once again banged up and ineffective, missing three of Pittsburgh's final seven games and failing to top 37 rushing yards in any of the four games he played. 
Conner is a physical runner who looks the part of a lead back when he's healthy, and despite his struggles staying in the lineup he still finished just outside the top 10 among running backs in broken tackles last season. However, instead of grinding down opposition defenders, he's the one who seems to break down. And so, despite Conner's status as a hometown hero dating to his days at Pitt, the Steelers didn't make an effort to re-sign him, and he eventually got a one-year, $1.75 million contract from the Cardinals in mid-April. Conner and Chase Edmonds are the only Arizona running backs with significant NFL experience or draft pedigree, so it'll likely be a joint effort between the two, perhaps looking something like the split between Edmonds and Kenyan Drake last year. Conner is a capable pass catcher in his own right, but he might be put in an early down role, as coach Kliff Kingsbury seems to trust Edmonds with receiving work.

The Pittsburgh offense was a disaster throughout last season due to injuries, and while quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's elbow surgery was the biggest blow, Conner's inability to stay on the field didn't help. The Pitt product struggled out of the gate, but he seemed to have found his rhythm by Week 4, piling up 449 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns over the next four games. A shoulder injury suffered in Week 8, and then a quad strain in Week 16, ruined his second half, and Conner managed to suit up for only 56 snaps in the Steelers' final nine games. When he's healthy, Conner combines a rugged, physical running style with strong receiving skills, but that accumulation of violent contact took its toll last year, and even when he was in the lineup he wasn't as effective as he had been the year before, dropping to 34th in yards per carry and 43rd in broken tackle rate. Roethlisberger's return should take pressure off the whole running attack, but given his already extensive medical file, Conner could find himself losing backfield touches to some combination of Benny Snell, Jaylen Samuels and rookie fourth-round pick Anthony McFarland.

In his second year, Conner became a true hometown hero for the Steelers. He was born in Erie, Pa., and matriculated at Pitt, where he ran for 26 touchdowns as a sophomore and then overcame Hodgkin's lymphoma to become a third-round pick in the 2017 draft. Conner got a chance to start for the Steelers when Le'Veon Bell's annual preseason holdout became a slow, season-long divorce between the star running back and the franchise. Conner's 135-yard, two-TD performance on the ground Week 1 helped fans quickly forget all about Bell. While the rest of his season was a little more erratic, Conner still showed enough to solidify his hold on the No. 1 job before an ankle injury cost him three games late in the season. Seen as primarily a power back coming out of college, Conner proved to be adept as a receiver, but it's still his ability to plow through contact that remains his best asset --- his 24 broken tackles on rushes tied for ninth in the league, and his 17 carries inside the 5-yard line tied for third as he converted 53 percent. That bulldozer approach may lead to further injuries (he's missed time late in the year twice in two seasons) but with Jaylen Samuels and Benny Snell on hand as capable backups, the Steelers aren't likely to grind Conner into the dirt with a massive workload the way they did with Bell.

A third-round pick in last year's draft, Conner didn't get much of a chance to show he was worth the investment as Le'Veon Bell dominated the backfield before Conner suffered a Week 15 knee injury that ended his campaign early. The 23-year-old is accustomed to setbacks – he's already come back from Hodgkin's lymphoma, so a little MCL strain should be no big deal. Conner is a burly back who ran with power and anger during a prolific college career at Pitt, frequently shoving defenders aside with stiff arms before lowering his shoulder at the end of runs. He also displayed the balance to keep his feet in traffic, but he isn't particularly elusive and his skills as a receiver and pass-blocker are rudimentary. His best fit in the NFL might be as a short-yardage back, and in that role he could be an effective complement to Bell. Of course, the Steelers seemingly intend to wring every snap they can out of their star before he walks out the door – a plan that would once again leave little work for Conner.

Currently listed at 6-1, 233 pounds, Conner overcome Hodgkins lymphoma and a torn MCL from 2015 to return to the field in 2016, and he came back with a leaner build and improved pass-catching skills. The 2017 third-rounder doesn't look like a standout talent and won't have much opportunity to produce behind Bell, but he's probably talented enough to produce if Le'Veon Bell should miss any time. Conner finished his college career at the University of Pittsburgh with 3,733 yards (5.6 YPC) and 52 touchdowns over the span of 39 games.