The Cardinals face the Seahawks tomorrow night, and it seems like a lower-scoring game that could go either way. But I'm really interested to see how Trey Benson fares.
Benson is a guy I have in a lot of leagues, in part because we paid attention to the preseason talk out of Arizona that it was going to be more of a one-two punch backfield this year. And then James Conner suffered a season-ending ankle injury last week, moving Benson into the lead back role. I think he's going to be very good.
We don't have a ton to go on. Last year's third-round pick was stuck behind Conner all of last year, averaging just 5 carries. He started only one game, and it was brutal: his 11 carries against the Rams went for only 10 yards.
But considering how little he's actually played since the start of last season, there's been some production when he had an expanded role. Looking at snap counts, I see eight games where he's been on the field at least 20 percent of the plays. Five last year, all three this year.
In those eight games, he's had double-digit points in PPR leagues twice, and 8-plus points three times (his last five games, chronologically). Those are not huge totals, but Benson didn't start any of those games, and only the most recent one did Conner leave early due to injury. He was playing usually 20-30 percent of the time in those games.
| BENSON WITH 20 PERCENT OF THE SNAPS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Run | No | Rec | TD | Pts |
| 2024 | LAR | 10 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2.7 |
| 2024 | Was. | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 |
| 2024 | at G.B. | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.6 |
| 2024 | Chi. | 37 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 12.5 |
| 2024 | NYJ | 62 | 2 | 25 | 0 | 10.7 |
| 2025 | at N.O. | 69 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 8.5 |
| 2025 | Car. | 14 | 4 | 30 | 0 | 8.4 |
| 2025 | at S.F. | 42 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 8.1 |
So if Benson can put up 8-12 points in PPR leagues without even playing half the time, he should be very good with a leading role. And that's what he'll be getting, starting tomorrow night.
It's not a great matchup. Seattle has played the run well in its first three games. But things will get better in Weeks 5-6 (Titans and Colts).
I'll be starting Benson tomorrow and hoping for the best, and I'm pretty sure I'll be starting him going forward.
--Andy Richardson