James Conner will not make his Arizona Cardinals debut on Friday

A day before the team’s first preseason game of the year, running back James Conner was one of four Arizona Cardinals players to be placed on the squad’s Reserve/COVID-19 list.

During his two years as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, Kliff Kingsbury has been able to make sure the team has one of the most successful rushing attacks in the NFL.

In terms of yards per carry, the Cardinals were the ninth-best team in this category in 2020 and the second-best in 2019.

Having a quarterback with the running ability of someone like Kyler Murray has certainly helped Arizona’s rushing offense in the last two years. But running backs like Kenyan Drake and Chase Edmonds were able to find success on the ground in Kingsbury’s offense as well during the last two seasons.

James Conner won’t be in action for Arizona Cardinals on Friday vs. Dallas Cowboys

Drake is now a member of the Las Vegas Raiders and in his place for the Cardinals is former Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner. Arizona is hoping Conner can work together in the backfield with Edmonds in 2021 to help the team continue to have success on the ground.

The Cardinals running back was set to make his debut with his new team in Friday’s preseason matchup with the Dallas Cowboys, but that’s not going to be happening anymore.

Conner was one of four players to reportedly land on Arizona’s Reserve/COVID-19 list on Thursday along with tight end Darrell Daniels, safety Charles Washington, and defensive lineman Leki Fotu.

All four were placed on the list as a result of being considered a high-risk close-contact, which means that none of them have received a full dose of the COVID-19 vaccine yet. If any of them were fully vaccinated at the time of being a close contact, they would still be eligible to play on Friday.

Instead, Conner and the other three will have to quarantine for at least five days before they can return to the team’s facilities.