Cardinals No. 1 RB battle has reportedly been decided already
By Adam Patrick
Chase Edmonds is expected to open the 2021 season as the top running back for the Arizona Cardinals, according to a recent report.
Heading into this summer’s training camp, fans have been curious to see who the Arizona Cardinals will select to be the team’s No. 1 running back to begin the 2021 season.
Most have assumed that Chase Edmonds and James Conner will be battling for the job during camp and this year’s preseason. But that might not actually be the case.
According to a recent report, the Cardinals have already decided which player will enter Week 1 in the top slot on the team’s running back depth chart.
Chase Edmonds will reportedly begin the 2021 season as the top Arizona Cardinals running back
For those who wanted to see Conner as the top guy in Arizona’s offensive backfield next season, prepare to be disappointed.
According to Pro Football Network’s Matt Cannata on Wednesday, Edmonds is the favorite to open the 2021 campaign as the Cardinals No. 1 back.
Cannata also added that Conner reportedly “seemed a bit banged up,” during Arizona’s spring practices after undergoing offseason surgery on his toe earlier this year.
Well, if Edmonds is going to be the top guy, it will be interesting to see if his role in the Cardinals’ offense will change at all in 2021.
He’s not the biggest running back in the league at 5-foot-9 and 210 pounds. So it’s hard to imagine Arizona is going to turn him into a three-down workhorse. In his three years with the Cardinals, Edmonds has only accumulated more than 10 carries in three of his 45 appearances.
A believable scenario feels like Arizona using a mixture of him and Conner in 2021 with Edmonds getting at least two-thirds of the total running back touches.
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It’s a great opportunity for Edmonds though. He’s likely been preparing for this moment since he was selected in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft and now he will get his big chance to prove he can be one of the top running backs in the entire league.