Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner is 28 years old and plays for one of the worst teams in the NFL, two facts that have fantasy football managers sliding the veteran down cheat sheets. Conner may not have elite upside, but three straight seasons with over 200 touches and a firm grasp on the feature role is a profile you rarely find outside of the first five rounds.
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James Conner’s Fantasy Outlook for the 2023 NFL Season
Arizona’s offense is … underwhelming. Kyler Murray is a question mark entering the season, and even if the dual threat is active sooner than later, the scoring potential of this offense is low.
With DeAndre Hopkins now in Tennessee, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown steps into the WR1 role and will try to repeat his stat line from 2021, his final season in Baltimore (91-1,008-6). Behind Brown are a pair of low aDOT options in Rondale Moore and Greg Dortch, receivers that will struggle to provide much big-play upside.
Is James Conner still being slept on 💤
— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) August 5, 2023
The Zach Ertz/Trey McBride tandem at TE is viable, but again, low octane. With limitations through the air, the Cardinals’ offense will have to move the ball on the ground, and behind Conner, there isn’t much.
Keaontay Ingram (2022 sixth-round pick) only earned 31 touches last season, and Corey Clement’s next season with 75 carries will be his first. Say what you will about Conner and this offense as a whole, but the veteran’s role isn’t much of a question when healthy.
Is Conner a Good Fantasy Pick?
This is an uncomfortable spot in the draft for the RB position, so Conner is a viable selection. I’ll stop short of calling him a target because there are projected workhorses in strong offenses that go in this range, including James Cook and Isiah Pacheco. But if I went light on running back early, I have no problem grabbing Conner’s decent floor.
Last season, six of the top 11 fantasy running backs (half-PPR points per game) were on losing teams. I don’t think Conner fits that mold this season, but the overall logic is there: a running back can produce fantasy numbers without his team winning many games.
If you loaded up on receivers and one-off positions early, the odds are good that you have some very high-ceiling players, a structure that demands a player like Conner in the middle rounds.
- PFN Consensus: 64th overall
- ADP: 74th overall