When looking at awards predictions and the ‘Offensive Rookie of the Year’ award most predictions land on one of the six quarterbacks taken in the first round, which is understandable given the high level of impact each of them can bring to the table simply because they play the most important position in sports. One player who could shake the narrative behind that is Arizona Cardinals running back Trey Benson who stands to be very productive in the new “run first” Arizona offense.
This run from Trey Benson is just silly.
I know #3 takes a poor angle but Benson being able to side shuffle while keeping his hips mostly north/south is beautiful. https://t.co/xeE5gaouUa pic.twitter.com/wSa42CXyJy
— Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) February 19, 2024
While Brooks is clearly second on the depth chart behind established veteran James Conner, there is still going to be plenty of meat left on the bone for Benson to get his touches. Arizona has made it clear towards the end of last season and in the offseason that they are committed to running the football. In the last two weeks of the season, Conner saw a whopping 58 touches, and Arizona heavily invested in the running attack via the draft and free agency.
Stop calling James Conner boring pic.twitter.com/G1CTXunGoW
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) April 22, 2024
It’s hard to imagine the Cardinals will want to give Conner a surplus of touches given his injury history and age, so while he is a very good player, Benson is going to eat into touches quickly and it could quickly devolve into a 50/50 split. Even with that split, if the running attack maintains what we saw last season, Benson could maximize north of 200 touches and with his raw talent could easily cash in on a breakout season.
