Trey Benson to IR: What is the state of the Arizona Cardinals RB room?

Trey Benson to IR: What is the state of the Arizona Cardinals RB room?

Let me get you some uh some annoying football news. Okay. Yeah. Uh Trey Benson going on IR. That’s my annoying football news. Man, that is sobering. I didn’t want to talk about that. I really did not. He’s going on IR. Basinonians. Um now listen, uh he’s not done for the year. Of course, you can bring him back. Uh designate him. He’s going to have to miss for weeks, of course. Um at the same time, it’s not good. This is this is bad. It is bad. Well, the offense right now for the Arizona Cardinals, it’s in trouble. This was his chance to kind of get running, too. Yeah, no pun intended to just kind of see what you have in Amari. Well, now you’re going to see what you have in Amari D Marcato, but you had a chance to maybe see what you had in Trey Benson. It was already bad circumstances to even be in that position. You wanted to see James Connor and Trey Benson run in tandem. You can’t now. So, okay, we’re all kind of wrapping our head around, well, let’s see Trey Benson. Trey Benson was a third round pick last year. He was one of the top running backs taken in the 20 24 draft. There was a lot of uh there’s a lot of hype in the running back community about him. So, here we go. Well, now he’s dealing with a knee injury and he’s out, too. So, you’re looking at Amari D Marcato. You’re looking at Michael Carter who just got called up to the active roster earlier this week. So, you knew something was up at that point as as when you see the Cardinals trying out four running backs yesterday, you know something’s up. Yeah, of course. Um, okay, let’s start with Amari D. Marcato, it was interesting because I even said yesterday when we didn’t know that Trey Benson might actually go onto IR, um, I said that Amari D. Marcato, for the most part, um, I’ve got all the confidence in the world that he could be a rundown running back. He could be that guy that can come into a game and pick up blitzing linebackers. He can be that guy who can run the ball aggressively in between the tackles. He’s got a little butt to him as well, Basin Earnings. He’s got a little a little something. He can actually jack you and run. He can run you over. He’s a physical guy and he can catch the ball coming out of the back the backfield. For me, when I think of Amari D. Marcato, I think of a guy that is ready for this. And I I feel confident, especially against the Titans coming up, that the Arizona Cardinals can still go out and run the ball and do it with malice, do it with intent, and actually do it well with Amari Dragado. It’s a cool story. I mean, he wasn’t drafted. He’s an undrafted uh rookie free agent in 2023. And if you’re a Cardinals fan, I guess if you’re a TCU fan as well, you know his path here. He’s stuck on this team. They’ve had some tough running back decisions the last couple years coming out of camp. Uh but he was never even really I wouldn’t say his job was on the line at all this year. He’s kind of established himself as as as who he is as the role he’s been in kind of that that third running back special teams guy catch out of the back field. But now the question is can he be a three down back? And that question was asked to Drew Petting yesterday because again, we didn’t know Trey Benson was going on IR for sure yesterday, but everybody could read the tea leaves that Amari was probably going to have to step into a bigger role when when the team starts bringing in running backs for basically tryyouts five weeks into the season. Here’s Drew Petting’s answer. I feel really good about just about everybody we have in that room. If you look at the what they’ve done throughout preseason, throughout their time in this building, you know, I think all of them can handle the rock. I think they can protect on third down. and I think they’re dynamic out of the back field. So, uh it could be any combination of those three. Yeah. And you know what, Michael Carter, I think, is going to be the third down back. Michael Carter is a guy that will stick his face in there. He’ll try to blitz pickup, of course. He’ll try to do that and do his job well. Um at the same time, he’s very good coming out of the backfield. I think Michael Carter is going to step right into that role. Now, again, this is not good news. This is not It is not. This is this is bad news for the Arizona Cardinals and in particular with their offense being what it is right now. This defense has got to step up and play even better going forward if they want to win two of the next three games that they’re playing before the buy. They’re going to have to step up and perform. Now listen, as a player inside that locker room, Bayonians, um, next man up. That is the mentality that you have. Next man up. It doesn’t matter how many guys go down. You have to step up. The next guy has got to do his job. You do your job, I’ll do my job. And you know what? If you focus on your job and I focus on my job, we’ll have a chance to go out there and actually win a game. If not, um, if you start thinking about all this other stuff, you’re doomed to begin with. Here’s Jonathan Ganon from this morning talking about Trey Benson. Trey Benson is going to go IR to return. He came in Friday. Um, and it’s a it’s a knee. Um, but he should be able to return at some point this year. Now, IR to return is a big distinction. It It’s one of those things that kind of gets lost in the moment right now of like, are you serious? James Connor’s done for the year. Now, we don’t have Trey Benson either. I and and as you’ve been saying, Wolf, the running game right now is probably your biggest issue, the thing you need to fix. This this sort of feels like the Diamondbacks and they’re trying to get the bullpen right, and you’re losing Justin Martinez and AJ Puck, the guys that you trusted to kind of lead that charge, but it is important to note that Trey Benson can come back this year. It might quote only be four weeks. U but either way, now you’ve you’ve you’re in a tough spot right now. You are playing the team. I think if you could select any team in the NFL right now to play in this situation, it probably would be Tennessee. But they’re an NFL team. You know what I mean? Yes, they are an NFL team. They’re going to win a game at some point this season. They might win a couple. You don’t want it to be at your expense. And this is really tough now because you are built as a running run first, I should say, offense. That’s just the way this team’s been built. You’re having your offensive line issues, whether that’s communication or something else, and now you’re down to your third string running back. And it’s October 1st. Yeah, it’s not good. You were talking about this and have been talking about it for a couple of weeks now. The Arizona Cardinals defense is going to have to carry this team and win games. They’re going to have to step up and play well going forward or the Arizona Cardinals are going to be in a whole lot of trouble if this offense doesn’t get going. And right now when you’re dropping people like Trey Benson and your offensive line is playing the way that it’s playing and you’re not having success running the ball which is integral to the success of your football team I think man it’s really a tough situation for the Arizona Cardinal. Now the Tennessee Titans number 28 and 25 respectively and rushing yards per game allowed and rushing yards per play allowed giving up 4.8 yards per carry. number 28, number 25 in the league. This is exactly what the Arizona Cardinals might need to get this offense going. Thanks for watching Wolf and Luke. 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Wolf & Luke break down the Arizona Cardinals thin running back room after the team announced Trey Benson was placed on IR.

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