It’s safe to say that James Conner has made the most of his second NFL opportunity. A former Steelers third-round pick who blossomed into a Pro Bowler in Pittsburgh, Conner has reinforced his status as a Pro Bowl-caliber player during his first three years with the Cardinals, who signed him back in 2021 after the Steelers let him test the free-agent market.
Instead of testing the market again next offseason (Conner is entering the final year of his current contract), the veteran running back wants to stay in Arizona for as long as he continues to play football.
“It would be awesome to finish my career here, but nothing changes,” the 29-year-old Conner recently told the team’s website. “If anything, it’s time to turn it up even more going into the last year of my deal. I’m thankful I got to see the last year of it, so I’ll go into it with everything I got. We’ll see what happens next year, hopefully stay, but I understand it’s a business.”
Conner’s success with the Cardinals isn’t a surprise to anyone that knows his story. A cancer survivor, Conner was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma during his junior season at Pitt. He underwent treatment and was declared cancer free prior to a senior season that saw him score 20 touchdowns for the Panthers.
With the Steelers, Conner sat behind Le’Veon Bell as a rookie before being thrown into the starting lineup in 2018 as a result of Bell’s yearlong holdout. Despite the uncertainty of Bell’s holdout, Conner turned in a Pro Bowl season after scoring 13 touchdowns and amassing nearly 1,500 all-purpose yards.
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