Ossenfort: James Conner progressing well, could return soon
James Conner has two 1,000-yard rushing seasons as a member of the Arizona Cardinals.
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The Arizona Cardinals’ rushing attack is ranked 22nd in the league this season, averaging 96.3 rushing yards per game as a team, but reinforcements might be on the way.
Cardinals’ general manager Monti Ossenfort told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke on Friday that running back James Conner is progressing well from the season-ending foot injury that he sustained last year.
“James is really close to a return,” Ossenfort said. “He’s going to continue to work and be ready to go. There are some roster construction considerations that go into that, but James is doing great. As always, he’s been a positive influence on the team, and he’s progressing well in his rehab.”
Conner suffered the injury during Week 3 last season against the San Francisco 49ers, when he was carted off the field.
Since then, the Cardinals drafted running back Jeremiyah Love third overall and signed running back Tyler Allgeier to a two-year, $12.25 million deal leaving the room crowded for when Conner returns.
Conner’s best season came in 2024, when he rushed for 1,094 yards and eight touchdowns, while also amounting 414 receiving yards.
So far this season, Love has rushed for 245 yards and one touchdown in five games. He’s currently nursing an ankle injury and will miss his second straight game this week.
Allgeier has rushed for 157 yards and one touchdown so far this season.
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Comments
4 Comments
If the OL can just get healthy it’ll actually be a pretty good OL. Rookie Tackle Jayden Williams looks good and has a future, RG Jon Gaines is actually really good and can be a key starter going forward but not he’s banged up. Paris a top ten borderline elite ascending LT now hurt, Adams is really solid he’s hurt, rookie Chase Bisontis is an absolute bull he’s out his entire rookie year. They draft one more tackle as insurance who can backup Paris/Williams early on and they’ll have a really good in the future .
Future of their OL will look like.
LT PJJ
LG Bisontis/Seumalo
C Hjalte Froholdt
RG Gaines/Adams
RT Jayden Williams/2nd rd pick
Next year they need to A) Bring in a new offensive line coach and B) condition their linemen better because these injuries are killing us. Positive side is they’ll have a pretty good OL though and will know the system from jump instead of all trying to mess in a new system early like they were this yesr
Although I don't agree that it's necessarily a conditioning issue, I agree with the rest of your assessment. Some issues like with Bisontis just happen with contact sports and are unpreventable.
James is a stud, however he still has to run behind a BAD O-line! If Bam Knight can replicate last weeks game we may have something there! It's too bad that we did not trade for the 2 reported 1st rd picks for O-line & D help, but of course that' why the AZ cards continue to be also rans!