James Conner

Conner has sat out every one of the first five weeks of the 2026 season, and he has been on the injured reserve list since before the third game was played, which means he plays no game until he comes off it. That alone would settle the case, but the record behind it makes it worse: his 2025 season also ended after its third game, and in 2023 he sat out a month of the season in the middle of the year. He is 31 and entering his tenth season, and our preseason availability read gave him just 3 games for all of 2026.

Even before the injuries, the production had turned. He went from 15.61 points a game in 2024 to 11.1 in 2025, and his yards per touch halved from 5.3 to 3.3. Our preseason number for the full season was 65 points, and we had him RB58 and 224th overall. The scoring-heavy profile carries a real cost too: among players with a 36.0% touchdown-points share, points a game fell 3.1 on average the next season, and players at 1.1x touchdown share dropped 0.7 more. Injuries are what pull his low range down to 0.

The depth chart says the same thing: fourth among ARI backs, behind Jeremiyah Love, Tyler Allgeier and Bam Knight, with Trey Benson also listed. Even when he was healthy in 2025 he cleared 15 points in none of his three weeks. We would release him and spend the spot on an available back. It would take an activation off IR and a clear path to touches before we would even consider holding him.