Cardinals RB James Conner left yesterday’s game against the Raiders with an ankle injury, however it is not believed to be serious.
The 27-year-old injured his ankle when he got tangled up with his own offensive linemen and opposing defenders on a screen pass early in the third quarter. He remained down for a moment before hobbling up and off the field. Conner was ruled out shortly afterward.
Given his history of ankle injuries, early reactions to the news it was an ankle injury were cautiously pessimistic that it would be another extended absence for him.
Luckily, after undergoing testing and imaging, the Cardinals believe it is not a serious injury and that Conner will be back at practice this week.
“He’ll be day to day,” head coach Kliff Kingsbury said of Conner when giving reporters an injury update. “He’s a tough guy. We just wanted to make sure he was a hundred percent if we were going to put him back in.”
While the diagnosis of Conner’s ankle injury is positive, it’s worth noting that he has had five different ankle injuries since entering the league in 2017. That plays a role in our algorithm calculating Injury Risk for Conner, which is 45% (High). His Health Performance Factor isn’t great either, at 34% (Poor). We’ve given him an Optimal Recovery Time of 14 days, meaning he should miss Week 3.
The Cardinals are fairly thin at running back, but backups Darrel Williams and Eno Benjamin put on a good performance in Week 2. If the Cardinals feel confident in those two for Week 3, it would give Conner the time he needs to rest. If they decide instead that Conner is ready to return, expect much lower production numbers.
