The Arizona Cardinals have placed James Conner on injured reserve to start the 2026 season with a designation to return, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports. As a result, the Cardinals' veteran running back will miss at least the first four games of the season.
Unfortunately, it's not surprising, as Conner missed the majority of last season with a severe ankle injury. While he wasn't on the PUP list for training camp, he's only been limited to individual work and has yet to participate in team drills.
Still, this was a move by Arizona that easily could've gotten lost in the mix during all the roster cutdown chaos. What is somewhat surprising is the Cardinals' decision to roster just three running backs: Jeremiyah Love, Tyler Allgeier, and Bam Knight.
Cardinals are thin at running back as James Conner goes on IR
Conner's move to IR potentially could've signaled that Arizona would be holding onto Evan Hull to start the season. Hull had a strong preseason finale in their loss to the Green Bay Packers, though that ultimately wasn't enough to save his spot.
They also willingly sacrificed more depth at the position by trading Corey Kiner to New England for a 2028 seventh-round pick. He was a cut candidate, so it's good that Arizona got some future asset out of the deal.
Regardless, the lack of depth at what was previously an extremely crowded back room is telling about their confidence in Love's health entering the season.
Their star rookie suffered a high-ankle sprain in preseason against the Las Vegas Raiders, potentially risking his availability to start the regular season. Seeing as he's trending in the right direction and still two weeks away from Week 1 action against the Los Angeles Chargers on September 13th, the Cardinals must feel good about their chances of having him suit up.
They'll still benefit from having the 31-year-old Conner's veteran presence there to guide Love. But hopefully the talented but injury-prone Conner has more gas left in the tank, as the Cardinals could also use the added depth.
It shows how quickly running back rooms change in the NFL. It was long viewed that Conner and Trey Benson were the running back duo going forward for Arizona. Unfortunately, neither Conner nor Benson was able to stay healthy, justifying the need for external reinforcements. Just one offseason later, they now have Love and Allgeier after arguably overspending at the position to fix last year's rushing woes.
With Conner now on IR, they'll have to rely on their younger legs for production, with the veteran sliding into a mentorship role until he can return after Week 4.
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