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Production Drew Mike LaFleur To Both Tyler Allgeier, James Conner

Cardinals have top two backs with similar playstyles

Apr 06, 2026 at 10:24 AM

Darren Urban/Word From The Birds

azcardinals.com

James Conner and Tyler Allgeier are running backs with similar styles.

"I can totally see how you see (that)," Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur said.

But LaFleur isn't worried about redundancy. That's one of the lessons learned since he arrived in the NFL in 2014.

"What I have learned about backs, I used to be stubborn in what I was looking for," LaFleur said. "I was probably wrong more than I was right. what I have learned about backs, they come in all shapes and sizes, but are they producing? Both those guys are smart, they are tough, they are great leaders for the locker room. ... They are similar but they have both produced."

Trey Benson is a different kind of back, but he at this point needs to show LaFleur he can produce. Teaming Allgeier and Conner together, in a league where backfield-by-committee has been the norm for a while, is a plan. Even a prime back doesn't mean there isn't work for another guy; Allgeier was still a key piece in Atlanta despite the presence of Bijan Robinson.

(Does/could Jeremiyah Love fit into all this as the No. 3 overall draft pick? I still have a hard time believing that, but never say never.)

The running backs still need blocking to be successful, but LaFleur isn't zeroing in on an offensive lineman necessarily at 3. He said he liked the parts the Cardinals added in free agency, brining in starting guard Isaac Seumalo and potential starting tackle Elijah Wilkinson, as well as depth guys Matt Pryor and Oli Udoh.

"You don't have to go reach in the draft," LaFleur said. "Now, if there is a guy where we can improve our roster, tackle, guard, whatever it is ... but on paper, you have a bunch of veterans who have played this game at a high level. They know how to play."

Tackle, like Francis Mauigoa, remains a likely draft decision. If not Mauigoa in the first, perhaps one early in the second round. But the Cardinals are willing to lean into Conner and Allgeier and perhaps Benson running the ball, and after 2025, it's hard not to see a situation where they will ultimately need all three at some point.