Arizona spent the offseason working to keep James Conner in the building, reworking his deal to stay put through 2026. Then the ankle that wrecked most of his 2025 season never fully cooperated, and Conner didn't suit up for a single one of the team's 4 preseason games. Now it's official: he's starting the year on the shelf.
The Cardinals placed veteran RB James Conner on injured reserve/designated to return. He'll miss at least the first four games.
Tom Pelissero broke the placement Saturday, and the timeline is real: injured reserve with a designation to return means Conner is out for a minimum of 4 games, with the earliest possible activation coming in Week 5. That's not a suspension or a cut, it's a built-in runway for a guy the Cardinals still believe can carry the offense once healthy — they just don't trust the ankle to hold up on opening Sunday.
This isn't a new injury. Conner suffered the ankle problem last season and it limited him to just a handful of appearances down the stretch, which is exactly why Arizona structured this deal the way it did and why nobody was shocked to see him miss all of camp and every preseason snap. The IR move formalizes what the lack of reps all summer had already been signaling.
The timing lines up with the rest of Arizona's roster crunch. Conner's IR designation landed in the same batch of moves that trimmed the Cardinals down to 53 players, a pile of 34 cuts that also cost the team OLB BJ Ojulari, CB Sean Murphy-Bunting and several other depth pieces, while TE Tip Reiman went to PUP.
The Arizona Cardinals have released 34 players as roster cuts continue, including: OLB BJ Ojulari CB Sean Murphy-Bunting CB Eljiah Jones CB Starling Thomas V LB Owen Pappoe QB Kedon Slovis TE Teagan Quitoriano RB James Conner and DL Zach Carter were placed on IR/designated for return. TE Tip Reiman was placed on PUP.
That means Arizona opens the season needing its backfield to carry the load without its clear top option, and without much time to sort out the pecking order behind him. Whoever gets the early-season carries is auditioning for a job Conner will eventually come back to reclaim — assuming the ankle finally lets him.
The soonest realistic landing spot for Conner's return is Arizona's Week 5 matchup, but designation-to-return only guarantees eligibility, not availability. Until the Cardinals actually activate him off IR, the plan is the same as it was all preseason: wait on the ankle and hope the runway they built is long enough.