The mentality of the Arizona Cardinals running back corps has always been to act as if they are carrying “two ones”. Jonathan Gannon, Drew Petzing, James Conner and Trey Benson have all expressed their beliefs, one way or another, that the Arizona Cardinals possessed two RB1 calibre backs coming into this season. 

The need for Trey Benson to prove that he is worthy of the moniker of RB1 accelerated with the news that the team were placing James Conner on Injured Reserve, ending his season after suffering a foot injury during the loss to the 49ers that saw Arizona’s warhorse carted off the field. 

The team certainly believe the 2024 third-round pick has the talent to fill Conner’s sizeable shoes. Gannon told local media on Monday that “I’m fully confident in Trey, I really am” and Monti Ossenfort oozed over his potential last offseason on the Dave Pasch podcast saying that “one thing that stands out about Trey is that when he has a crease, he has the speed to break it and pop the long run, something you don’t see in running backs his size”.

Cardinals fans only saw flashes of that ability in Benson’s rookie year where, in a limited role behind Conner, he rushed for 291 yards on 61 carries and one touchdown averaging 4.6 yards per carry. 

By his own admission, it was a quieter campaign than Benson would have been aiming for, with the pace of the pro game and some indesciveness creeping into his play. Before the start of this season, Benson said “It was my rookie year and the defenses, the whole NFL, is just way quicker than college, I think that’s what it was and my mind was just racing. I just needed to be more decisive. I was thinking too much at the beginning of the season trying to hit the home run every time”. 

Via the eye test, it certainly looked like Benson’s confidence grew as the season went on, with less of that panic stunting his performance. His touchdown against the Bears seemed to take some weight of his shoulders before going for 62 yards against the Jets, averaging 6.2 yards per carry. That output improved against the Vikings (6.7) and Seahawks (7.5) until he was knocked out of the final couple of games with an ankle injury. 

That line of thinking was echoed on Monday by Gannon who stated that “I think the more he plays, the more comfortable you see him getting and the better he’s going to be”.

His role had already grown before Conner’s injury, already getting a third of last season’s carries (21) in the opening 3 games and taking on the responsibility of 3rd down back as a receiving option, and the expectation will be for him to continue that upward trend now. 

Given the Cardinals penchant for running the football and his increased workload, Benson is the flavour of the week in fantasy circles with a host of accounts and analysts calling him a “must-have” and a potential “league winner”. 

It’s easy to see why, especially from the outside looking in, the 23-year-old would generate such buzz. 

Benson is the league leader in rush yards over expected per attempt (2.29) and he’s currently 2nd across the entire NFL in rushing yards per attempt (6) amongst all players with at least 20 carries, only behind David Montgomery. He’s 30th amongst players for rushing yards per game (41.7) and no player has got more overall rushing yards (125) in less attempts (21) so far this season. 

The boost in confidence he experienced last year has definitely carried over into this season as well, with Benson looking more assured through contact, more in line with the standout prospect we saw at FSU than the gun-shy rookie of the early part of 2024. At the moment, Trey Benson is generating 4.05 yards after contact per attempt and is 4th amongst running backs with at least 20 carries for missed tackles forced (7) behind Cam Skattebo, Jordan Mason and Bijan Robinson. That’s not bad company to be keeping. 

He’s avoiding a higher percentage of tackles per carry than Derrick Henry, Ashton Jeanty, De’Von Achane, Jonathan Taylor, Javonte Williams, Travis Etienne and Kenneth Walker while getting more yards after contact per carry than Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara, Jahmyr Gibbs, Skattebo, Bijan and Omarion Hampton. 

However if you peel back the headline statistics and dig further, as a Cardinals fan with greater concerns than a fantasy team, there are some alarm bells around Benson that he will have to quieten.

He has only been responsible for claiming three first downs in three games so far this season and while his opportunity to make those game-changing contributions will only increase, he is following in the footsteps of a man responsilble for 67 (or the 8th most for rushers) last year. That was over 4 first downs a game, on average, that James Conner was able to create in 2024. That’s the difference between winning and losing football games. 

Benson is also way down amongst running backs for success percentage, a metric that measures “successful” rushes in gaining 40% of yards required on first down, 60% of required yards on second down and 100% on 3rd and 4th. Benson’s 33.3% success rate ranks as 44/45 rushers accounted for on Pro Football Reference.

Another similar stat places Benson in the top five worst running backs with 20 or more carries for being “stuffed”. A “stuff” is measured as any run that does not result in a first down or touchdown, one that gains less than 4 yards on first down and less than 3 yards on any other down. Benson’s 57.1% “stuff” percentage is 5th worst with Chase Brown being the worst offender (63.8%) and Bill Croskey-Merritt being best in show at 31.8%. 

While Benson’s big-time runs of 52 yards vs. the Saints and 29 yards vs. the 9ers showcased his playmaking ability, especially when a running lane opens up for him, they are doing incredibly heavy lifting in his overall statistical output. 

The offensive line opening up those running lanes, at a far more effective rate than they have been, will be critical to any success the Cardinals’ running backs have from here on out. While he will obviously be a massive miss to the offence, it was not like James Conner had found vintage form in the opening 3 games, averaging just 3 yards per carry (way down on his 5 yard average in ‘23 and 4.6 in ‘24) and failing to crack the 100 rushing yard mark. 

Some of that was down to the poor output in the running game from an offensive line who look to be missing the input of Klayton Adams who left the team to become the offensive coordinator at Dallas. The struggles the team have faced in the run game so far are perhaps best summarised in their effectiveness against light boxes. In 2024, no team averaged more yards per carry (6.95) than the Cardinals. So far in 2025, the team ranks 29th with just 3.82 yards per carry against light boxes. 

For both Benson and the entire rushing offence to thrive, things need to improve. They face a challenging encounter against a talented Seahawks defensive line tonight. The Seahawks have the 7th best running defence in terms of average yards allowed (90) and haven’t allowed a single rushing touchdown.

The offence as a whole faces a stern test, at a time when fans are quickly losing faith in the players and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, against a defence that is allowing a miserly 15.7 points per game which is the second least in the league.

If Trey Benson can truly stake his claim as the Cardinals RB1, the time to start doing so will never be more apt than now and if he can pick up the load left behind by Conner consistently there will be nobody happier than James Conner himself who Benson has cited as a mentor figure. 

It’s Trey Benson’s time to shine and the lights don’t get much brighter than in a divisional showdown on Thursday Night Football. 

Image/Media Credits: Arizona Cardinals, PHNX Sports, Trumedia