Arizona Cardinals Star Among Best Fantasy Football Values

Fantasy football season is among us, and if you're looking for value - look no further than Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner.

Conner has produced to massive levels the last two seasons, though his name isn't really viewed as one of the top players to take when drafting ahead of 2025.

NFL.com believes that should change.

When ranking the top running back values this year, Michael Florio put Conner as the No. 3 guy behind Isiah Pacheco and D'Andre Swift.

"Conner has long been one of my favorite running back values, and the trend continues in 2025. He’s topped 1,000 scrimmage yards and scored at least eight touchdowns in each of his four seasons with the Cardinals," wrote Florio.

"In fact, he’s coming off the best two-year fantasy stretch of his career, both of which came under OC Drew Petzing. Conner is 30 years old, which might scare some fantasy managers, but last year he posted career highs in carries, missed tackles forced and explosive runs. He posted his second-most yards before and after contact, success rate, receptions and receiving yards. He has shown no signs of decline, but the age concerns help keep his ADP down."

Conner does have second-year running back Trey Benson behind him - though by all indications, Conner is still in line to receive a heavy workload moving into the new season.

"I feed off him a ton. So I think our team does as well. His play style, it leads to that. It looks good when he's running through people's faces. Guys get juiced about that," said Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon during training camp.

"You need it, you really do. We call it motor and violence, but guys that play extremely hard and guys that can out-hit their opponent, that typically brings some juice to your whole team."

Conner is one of seven NFL running backs to have reached 1,000 yards in each of the last two seasons, and fresh off a contract extension - it doesn't look like he's slowing down entering 2025, especially in offensive coordinator Drew Petzing's heavy-run offensive approach.