![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2236980405-1024x683.jpg\")
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James Conner broke his foot in Week 3 of last season and missed the rest of the Cardinals’ campaign. Kavin Mistry \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
March 8, 2026Updated 4:17 pm EDT<\/p>\n
Running back James Conner and the Arizona Cardinals have agreed to a reworked contract that will keep him with the franchise for the 2026 season, a league source told The Athletic.<\/p>\n
Conner is coming off a foot injury that required surgery and ended his 2025 season after just three games. Before that, Conner, 30, was a consistent force for the Arizona offense.<\/p>\n
Conner recorded a career-high 18 touchdowns (15 rushing, three receiving) in 2021, his first season with the Cardinals. He had back-to-back seasons with at least 1,000 rushing yards in 2023 and 2024 and signed a two-year extension with the team in November 2024.<\/p>\n
A two-time Pro Bowler, Conner was a third-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Cardinals, under new head coach Mike LaFleur, are entering a bit of a reset after moving on from quarterback Kyler Murray.<\/p>\n
Conner\u2019s brutal, season-ending foot injury suffered in Week 3 was not the only reason for last season\u2019s struggles, but it was a factor in Arizona\u2019s collapse. The Cardinals had hoped to run the football, and Conner was coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. Perhaps more importantly, he was a team captain and a strong voice in the locker room. His work ethic and determination set the offensive tone. That was difficult to replace, especially once Arizona started losing.<\/p>\n
Conner\u2019s timetable from the foot injury is not known, but once healthy, he should provide stability to a running backs room that needs work. The Cardinals last season finished second-to-last in the league in rushing offense, averaging 93.1 yards per game. The offensive line failed to do its part, but after Conner\u2019s injury, Arizona never found a replacement that could match his presence and production.<\/p>\n
This story will be updated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mar 8, 2026<\/p>\n
Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n
Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n
Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Conner broke his foot in Week 3 of last season and missed the rest of the Cardinals’…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[390,1999,7,6,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-801014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-arizona-cardinals","9":"tag-fantasy-football","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-nfl-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116195455671005912","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}