Arizona Cardinals RB's Have Serious Upside This Year

There's plenty to like with the 2025 edition of the Arizona Cardinals. On offense, the team has guys like Marvin Harrison Jr and Trey McBride who are seemingly destined for stardom. But it's the running back room that really has our attention.

Arizona's backfield has a good blend of proven veterans and exciting youngsters who can make this group work and produce. If everything goes right, the Cardinals could use their run game to get them wins all season. Sure, the defense got better, the coaching is great, and the guys we mentioned before can become juggernauts, but we already know how good this backfield is.

Our question now is how good can they be? What's the upside for this group, or rather, a best case scenario. Are we looking at a potentially elite backfield?

We just might be, and it starts with the headliner for the group.

James Conner remains an ageless wonder with consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons despite officially turning 30 this offseason. He's also managed 1,000 scrimmage yards in each of his four seasons in the desert. He feels like a safe bet to continue that trend at worst, but he's running better than he ever has and could be in store for a third-straight 1k rushing season.

The Cardinals are seemingly all-in on their run game for 2025 and it starts with Conner. So long as he continues totting the ball at a high-rate, don't be surprised to see his numbers reflect that again. He only needed 208 and 236 carries in his two 1k campaigns to top the mark, meaning he doesn't have to be a true bellcow to get there.

In fact, this opens up an opportunity for Trey Benson to inherit a much larger role than the one he had a year ago. The Florida State man had just 63 carries and six catches all year for 350 scrimmage yards and a single touchdown. Benson is likely seen as the future of this backfield, even after re-signing Conner due to his age. A year two breakout could be in store.

With the duo of Conner and Benson alone, the Cardinals can hope for 1,500 rushing yards and double-digit touchdowns. Both of them can catch the ball well, too, which increases their chances to add more yards and big plays for this offense. As far as upside goes, Conner/Benson could be a good one.

The Cardinals have intriguing depth behind those two, although we don't know who will stay and go considering roster cuts are more than a month away. But for what it's worth, Michael Carter provided some spark in limited time last year, while Emari Demercado has displayed home run hitting upside. DeeJay Dallas has elite return man upside and could possibly find his way onto the field as a pass catcher. And the team signed Bam Knight to provide further competition.

If we wanted to include Kyler Murray's upside as a runner and our continual insistence that he starts using his legs more again, we are looking at one of the better run games in the league.

The upside looks like this: 1,000 rushing yards from James Conner, 500-600 yards from Trey Benson, explosive plays from the backups, and great pass catching all around. That core could generate big time scoring, too, which is always needed when we talk about winning football games.