Odegard: The Cardinals Must Keep James Conner in 2024

When Steve Keim gave James Conner a three-year, $21 million contract extension in 2022, I was aghast.

It was a lot of money for an oft-injured running back who was coming off a season in which, yes, he scored 15 rushing touchdowns, but only averaged 3.7 yards per carry.

I thought Chase Edmonds should have been the running back that was extended because he was cheaper and a more dynamic receiving threat. While the contract didn’t have an out for two seasons, I thought Conner would almost certainly be released in 2024.

But here we are, a couple years later, and I was wrong on almost every count.

Conner was a tremendous difference-maker against the Steelers on Sunday, carrying the ball 25 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns.

He sealed the game with some thunderous runs in the fourth quarter, and made Cardinals fans grin ear to ear by sending Patrick Peterson into oblivion with a nasty stiff-arm.

Conner is owed $8.49 million next season, and while that’s a big chunk for a running back, the 28-year-old has made himself such a cornerstone on offense that it would be foolish to cut him.

The dead cap hit would be $3 million, so the question essentially is this: would you rather have $5.49 million in cap savings or Conner?

Before the season, the answer seemed like it would be the former, but now it is most certainly the latter.

In the first season of Kyler Murray’s career, the Cardinals made a historic jump in offensive efficiency from the dumpster fire that was the 2018 season.

Much of it was the wizardry of the rookie quarterback, but he also got a big assist from Kenyan Drake in the running game.

That rushing efficiency disappeared from 2020 to 2022, but the Cardinals are third in the NFL this season at 4.7 yards per carry, and as we saw on Sunday, that type of balance leads to such a better flow on offense.

Conner has been nothing short of great this season. He has 129 carries for 631 yards and four touchdowns in nine games.

Conner’s yards-per-carry average of 4.9 is sixth in the NFL and on track for a career-best. He is averaging 0.73 more rush yards than expected on each attempt, which is also sixth among running backs in the NFL, near the vicinity of Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley.

Conner doesn’t deliver much in the passing game, but between the short-yardage ability and overall efficiency, he brings major value to the Cardinals. 

It’s imperative to cash in at the goal-line, and since Murray’s return, Arizona has been good there, because of the quarterback’s mobility and Conner’s ability to smash forward into the end zone.

The Cardinals need a revamp in the wide receiver room this offseason. That seems pretty obvious after Sunday’s showing. (Marvin Harrison, Jr. would help.) 

And I’m not advocating for a Conner extension, because paying money to a 30-year-old running back before it’s needed would be foolish.

But he should absolutely remain on the Cardinals in 2024, playing out a contract that I thought had no chance of being completed before the season began.

Arizona will have a lot of holes to fill for 2024, but its starting running back spot should be locked in.