Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner will miss the remainder of the 2025 season with a right ankle injury suffered in his team’s loss on Sunday.
Conner was carted off the field at the 12:26 mark of the 3rd quarter, and had 9 carries for 22 yards prior to the injury. Luckily for the 30 year old, his $3.64M base salary for 2025 is guaranteed for injury, however, according to reports, the severity of the injury could raise questions about his NFL future.
While an official prognosis has yet to be made public, sources indicate that surgery will be required to correct the issue. The question now becomes how long Conner’s recovery timeline is, and what kind of burst he will have when he returns to the field.
The former Pittsburgh Steeler signed a 2 year extension back in 2024, and is under contract through the 2026 season. However, Arizona also has a potential out following this year which would amount to just $2.25M counting against the cap in 2026. With Conner on the wrong side of 30 already, and now facing major surgery, some analysts have already begun to speculate that we may have seen the last of the 2x Pro Bowler in a Cardinals uniform.
Quarterback Kyler Murray, who was visibly upset on the field when Conner went down, expressed his disappointment to reporters following the contest. “Yeah, it’s unfortunate…Just not only is he my teammate, I feel like that’s a brother of mine. Just to see him go down like that, you never want to see that. I understand it’s part of the game, but it is not ideal. All the work that he puts in and just who he is as a person, you don’t want to see him get hurt like that. Yeah, it’s tough. He’s everything, means everything.”
With Conner out for the year, sophomore running back Trey Benson is expected to assume the starter’s role, with some combination of Bam Knight, Emari Demercado and Michael Carter mixing in as well.
Across 16 career NFL games, the 23 year old has amassed 416 yards on 84 carries, while catching 14 of 17 targets for 104 yards through the air. Benson rushed for 906 yards on 156 attempts, with 14 touchdowns on the ground in his final year at Florida State in 2023, but has largely been a backup behind the veteran Conner.
The Cardinals will now have a short week to get prepared for Seattle as they’ll play host to the Seahawks on Thursday night football in Week 4. Both teams come into the contest at 2-1 on the year, but more importantly, Arizona will be hoping to avoid going 0-2 in the division following their heartbreaking last second loss to San Francisco on Sunday.
Photo: David. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.