Arizona Cardinals Running Back Depth Chart — 2026

A handcuff is the backup who inherits the starter's workload if the starter gets hurt — so the Cardinals handcuff is whoever sits directly behind Jeremiyah Love on the depth chart above. Rostering him is how you protect a starting back you have already spent a pick on. More on what a handcuff is.

Jeremiyah Love is Arizona's starting running back, taken third overall in the 2026 draft. The open question is what is left for the rest of the room. Tyler Allgeier, signed as a free agent in March, ran -0.18 yards over expected per carry on 143 carries for Atlanta last season. James Conner is back from the ankle injury that limited him to three games.

Arizona spent the third overall pick on a running back, which tells you how the carries are meant to be distributed. It also means the backup job here is worth more than most, because the role it would inherit is a designed workhorse role rather than a share.

Tyler Allgeier is the one other back in the room with a full professional record. He ran 143 carries at -0.177 yards over expected per carry in Atlanta — 39th of 49 qualifying backs, so below the line — but he is close to indestructible, 67 of 68 team games across 4 seasons. He was signed in March, before the draft, when a deep committee looked like the plan.

James Conner is the other name, and the caution is age and recent availability rather than ability: 60 of 85 team games over 5 seasons. He is now on IR, and the depth chart moves with it — Conner slides from third to fourth. Trey Benson played 10.8% of Arizona's offensive snaps, 83rd among running backs, in a season cut short, and his own move to IR has him sliding again, from fifth to sixth on the depth chart. Zonovan Knight moves up to third from fourth as Conner's spot opens above him.

This is the genuinely uncertain part, and it is worth being honest that the range runs from material to almost nothing.

Allgeier was signed as a committee back in March. Then Arizona drafted Love third overall. A team does not spend that pick to split carries, but it also does not hand a rookie every snap in September, and Allgeier's durability is exactly the argument for keeping a veteran in the rotation — 67 of 68 team games.

His running has not been the selling point. In Atlanta his -0.18 yards over expected per carry ranked 39th of 49 qualifying backs at 3.59 a carry, so the case for him is availability and short-yardage bulk rather than efficiency.

Conner's path is narrower still. He is on injured reserve, and Arizona's running back depth chart now lists him 4th.

Trey Benson is the one with the profile, and it is the most useful thing on this page.

In 4 games last season before a knee injury ended it, Benson drew 16 targets and caught 13 — 4.00 targets a game. Tyler Allgeier drew the same 16 targets across a full season, 0.94 a game, on 143 carries. Benson's target bar was 25 targets, which he did not reach, so no receiving rate is published for him. He played 78 pass snaps in those four games, under the 100-snap line where a share becomes worth ranking.

The role history below records how that came about: Arizona moved him into the third-down job early in 2025. He has now moved from RB4 to RB5 on the depth chart and sits on IR, so whether he keeps that job is no longer a camp question but a recovery one.

James Conner played 47 pass snaps across his three games, also under the line. Allgeier's 137 came for Atlanta.

Reporting from a previous season, kept because a role a player has already held is the best evidence available about the one he might hold next. It describes 2025, not now.

In 2025 Benson took over as Arizona's third-down back, playing 41 percent of the team's third-down snaps in Week 1 after 5.8 percent in that role as a rookie. (AZCardinals.com, 2025-09-11)

What the beat is reporting, last refreshed 2026-08-28. Nothing here is measured — it is reporting, attributed and dated.

Jeremiyah Love was the third overall pick in the 2026 draft (Pro Football Rumors, 2026-07-22).

Tyler Allgeier signed with the Cardinals in March on a deal for two years and up to 12.25 million dollars, described as part of building a deep committee under new coach Mike LaFleur (AZCardinals.com, 2026-03-09).

James Conner has recovered fully from the ankle injury that limited him to three regular-season games in 2025, but does not appear to have a clear path to steady volume in 2026 unless injuries hit (RotoWire, 2026-07-24).

The Allgeier signing came before Arizona used the third overall pick on a running back (AZCardinals.com, 2026-03-09). Trey Benson has since gone to injured reserve after a knee flare-up during camp, and Arizona reworked the room around him: Benson slid from RB4 to RB5, Zonovan Knight moved up from RB5 to RB4, and Corey Kiner moved from RB4 to RB6.