In one of the last interviews James Conner did before his season-ending injury, the veteran running back was talking before the Cardinals' season opener and dropped a cliché that with Conner, was anything but.
"I just love playing football," he said.
A couple of weeks later, he couldn't play, lost with a nasty ankle injury. But Conner will get another chance to play football in Arizona, after he reportedly agreed to a revised contract to stay with the Cardinals for 2026. Conner had been scheduled to have a $9.8 million salary cap hit and make a total of $7.9M this season; he will have agreed to lower that to remain.
There was also a report that cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, who had been scheduled to have a $9.2M cap hit and a $7.1M salary, agreed to a revised deal to stay with the Cardinals.
With Michael Carter, Emari Demercado and Bam Knight all scheduled to become free agents, Conner stays with Trey Benson and Corey Kiner as the running backs on the roster from last season. Demercado was not tendered an offer as a restricted free agent, but he still could return.
Conner was excellent on the field when healthy for the Cardinals, but he is also a significant leader in the locker room and the emotional force of the offense on the field.
Conner has rushed for 3,763 yards in his five Arizona seasons, even with his truncated 2025. That is fourth in franchise history, behind Ottis Anderson, Stump Mitchell and Jim Otis. His 38 rushing touchdowns are second only to Anderson's 46.
Conner arrived to little fanfare as a free agent in 2021, signing a one-year contract with the Cardinals after four years with the Steelers. But he teamed with Chase Edmonds to produce a powerful running game that season – scoring 18 touchdowns, 15 that were on the ground – for a playoff team.
Until his season-ending foot injury in 2025, Conner was the guy in the Cardinals backfield. He had the lone two 1,000-yard seasons of his career in 2023 and 2024 after new coach Jonathan Gannon arrived.
He tended to be underappreciated league-wide – Conner made a Pro Bowl in 2021 but missed out in '23 and '24 – but that was impossible to do when seeing him on a daily basis. Conner was the heart and soul of the offense and arguably of the team in his tenure, and his injury in San Francisco last season was crushing to the locker room.
He was also a key component in the transition from Kliff Kingsbury to Gannon in 2023, his gravitas helping positively create a foundation for Gannon's culture.
Conner finished with just 95 yards and a touchdown on just 32 carries last season before his injury.
Murphy-Bunting missed the entire 2025 season after an injury early in the offseason sent him to the Non-Football Injury list.
