Trey

Benson

Benson had in-season meniscus surgery last season and never returned to the field. LaFleur said the team doesn’t anticipate this flare-up becoming a multi-week issue, but they’re clearly going to do what they need to do to help him manage things. Benson is competing for touches with James Conner and Tyler Allgeier in camp, but there’s been some belief that the Cardinals could keep four running backs on the final roster when all is said and done. Benson has a career rushing line of 92-451-1 through his first two seasons in the league.

The four running backs are Jeremiyah Love, Tyler Allgeier, James Conner, Trey Benson. Given the recent draft capital and financial investments in Love and Allgeier, those two are obviously locks to make the final squad. Conner, 31, and Benson, 24, seem like reasonable trade candidates. Both players’ seasons ended prematurely due to injury. Conner has one year left on his deal. Benson has two. Love should take over the starting role soon enough, but perhaps the RB2 battle could take a while to sort through. Weinfuss believes “Conner and Benson won’t roll over easily and give their jobs away.” If they do indeed keep four running backs, and one player were to miss time, this might make for a tough waiver wire read.

Then on injured reserve, Benson said he was feeling good when his practice window opened, and he knew this was his “time to shine” as the Cardinals’ lead running back. Unfortunately, he started “going a little too hard” on the practice field and ended up triggering a setback. He was still working his way back onto the practice field as of earlier this week. The Cardinals are currently on break until mandatory minicamp begins on June 8th. Hopefully, Benson can resume practicing then. ESPN’s Dan Graziano believes Benson could be a trade candidate, given the Cardinals’ depth at the running back position. Perhaps, he will receive another time to shine in a new locale.

Graziano could only be referring to James Conner and Trey Benson. He noted that Conner took a pay cut this offseason, which could signal that he’s still in the Cardinals’ plans, making a Benson deal potentially more likely. That seems unlikely, though, considering Arizona brought in Tyler Allgeier and Jeremiyah Love this offseason. Conner is still working off to the side with trainers at practice as he recovers from ankle surgery, but if he can return to the practice field soon then a trade could be in his future. Graziano mentioned the Bengals and Giants as teams that could be looking for running back help.

Benson, 23, suffered a knee injury in Week 4 last year. He was placed on injured reserve after undergoing surgery in-season. Although he resumed practicing, the team never activated him from injured reserve. Unfortunately, Benson appears to be buried on the depth chart behind RBs Jeremiyah Love, Tyler Allgeier and James Conner (ankle) right now. Benson is under contract with the Cardinals through 2027.

The good news about the restructure is that it will keep Conner in Arizona next year, giving him a real shot to head the backfield again depending on how his foot/ankle injury rehab is coming along. Because of how it was reported, it’s almost certainly actually a pay cut for Conner, who would likely have faced a tough market. Conner and fellow injury rehabber Trey Benson figure to again split carries in Arizona in 2026 if both are healthy.

The season is over for Benson, who never came back from the knee injury he suffered in October. He ends the season with 160 rush yards (5.5 yards per carry) and 13 receptions for 64 scoreless yards. Benson was set to function as the Cardinals’ lead back after James Conner went down for the year. That never materialized, and now Bam Knight serves as the nominal RB1 in the Arizona backfield. Knight, who has 25 touches over the past two games, profiles as a usable flex this week against the Texans.

Benson is entering the final week of his 21-day practice window. If he isn’t activated before the 21 days are up, the Cardinals are forced to leave him on injured reserve for the remainder of the season. Benson practiced on Wednesday two weeks ago but has been listed as a DNP ever since. He appears to have suffered a setback while recovering from the meniscus injury that has sidelined him since Week 4. At this point, it looks more likely than not that he is done for the year. Bam Knight will close out the season as Arizona’s top back.

When the deadline to activate Benson from his 21-day window was mentioned to Gannon, he noted “that doesn’t mean you can’t activate him and then he could possibly be down.” It doesn’t sound like Benson is particularly close to returning at this point. Zonovan Knight will continue to fill in as the lead back in the meantime for the Cardinals.

Benson has been sidelined since Wednesday of last week. Whether he suffered a setback or his surgically repaired knee is simply responding poorly to his ramp-up period remains unknown. At this point, Cardinals RB Bam Knight appears to be heading toward another week operating as the team’s No. 1 running back.