September 21, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; Detail view of an Arizona Cardinals helmet for tight end Trey McBride (85) before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Latest Cardinals Workouts Stir Injury Concerns

Originally posted on Arizona Cardinals on SI
By Donnie Druin | Last updated Sep 30, 2025 6:00 PM ET

The Arizona Cardinals had worked out four running backs today ahead of preperations for Week 5 action against the Tennessee Titans.

According to the NFL transaction log, the Cardinals had the following players at their facility in Tempe:

Isreal Abanikanda, Jermar Jefferson, Montrell Johnson and Michael Wiley

The Cardinals also terminated the contract of cornerback Ekow Boye-Doe and had free agent corner Jaden Davis in for a visit.

What to Make of Cardinals RB Tryouts

Starting Cardinals RB Trey Benson was not spotted at Monday's practice.

This was Jonathan Gannon's response when asked about Benson's status:

“Just taking it day by day. We'll have that full report for you guys on Wednesday. (It's) kind of an extra day today.”

Benson was not featured on Arizona's final offensive drive on Thursday Night Football, where Emari Demercado took snaps at running back. Benson played 55% of snaps on Thursday and did not have a reported injury.

This comes after the season-ending foot injury to James Conner, which was a massive blow to the offense. This week, Arizona elevated Michael Carter to the active roster.

Could Benson be banged up?

We won't know for sure until tomorrow, though the Cardinals bringing in four running backs for workouts certainly after Benson was absent from practice isn't a positive indication.

Cardinals Know Rushing Woes Must End

Arizona's bread and butter has been establishing the run since offensive coordinator Drew Petzing first took over in 2023.

That's been quite a challenge for the Cardinals thus far, as Arizona's offense has been stagnant for majority of their games to begin 2025.

Gannon says technique has been key in the rushing game.

“Yeah. The first step, pad level and pointing it the right way. You got some technique things that come up and some schematic things that come up. Off here or there a little bit, playing penalty free, so we just have to uptick everything that we're doing to get the run game going," he told reporters.

Communication at the line of scrimmage along with defender identification was also highlighted over the weekend by Arizona.

"We have to make sure that we're all on the same page when we're making calls at the line of scrimmage. That's been good to us in the past. It's not where it needs to be right now, but (it’s) very correctable. We do have to make sure that we don't have unblocked players that we think we have accounted for that are not accounted for.”