Coming into the 2023 season, no one was expecting the Arizona Cardinals to be contending for a playoff spot. Many projections had them amongst the worst teams in the NFL, but they have shown much more competitiveness than many people originally believed they would.
They picked up a victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3 and were a second-half meltdown away from defeating the New York Giants in Week 2. Arizona also held a fourth-quarter lead in Week 1 against the Washington Commanders as new head coach Jonathan Gannon has his team playing hard every week.
However, their lack of talent up and down the roster is glaring at times. It showed against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 4 and Cincinnati Bengals this past weekend. Unfortunately for them, that talent gap is going to be even bigger.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Cardinals are going to be without star running back James Conner for the foreseeable future. Conner injured his knee against the Bengals and is expected to be sidelined for multiple weeks, making him a candidate for injured reserve.
This is a huge blow for the Cardinals as Conner has been very productive thus far this season. He has carried the ball 68 times for 364 yards and two touchdowns, adding eight receptions for 30 yards. The rushing yards were the eighth most in the NFL to this point.
Conner has dominated the backfield touches in Arizona thus far this season, as Emari Demercado and Keaontay Ingram have combined for only 26 rushing attempts this season. It will be interesting to see which one of them emerges as the lead-back and if the Cardinals bring in a free agent to help fill the backfield void.
Through five weeks, Conner was the No. 2 graded running back, per PFF, out of 53 qualified players with an 85.5 overall grade. His running grade is an elite 86.0 and he has been stellar in pass protection with a 90.9 pass blocking grade.
