Cardinals Place Rookie on Injured Reserve

The Arizona Cardinals won't have Trey Benson for their season finale.

Nov 10, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals running back Trey Benson (33) runs against the New York Jets during the first half at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals announced the following roster moves today:

• Placed RB Trey Benson on injured reserve.
• Signed OL Nick Leverett to the active roster from the practice squad
• Re-signed RB Hassan Hall to the practice squad.

With Arizona's final game of the regular season coming on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers (who will be without Brock Purdy), this marks the end of Benson's rookie campaign thanks to an ankle injury.

Benson - the team's second-round pick out of Florida State - played a total of 13 games for the Cardinals in their RB2 role behind starter James Conner and averaged 4.6 yards per carry with one touchdown coming against the Chicago Bears.

There was some thought that Benson would take a larger role in Arizona's offense beginning in 2025, though the Cardinals signing Conner to a two-year extension may have delayed that train of thought.

Benson struggled out of the gates as a runner in terms of vision and decision-making, though he eventually found his footing and flashed some of the talent he showed during as college days as a Seminole.

Earlier in the year, Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon was asked about Benson:

“I think he hasn't gotten a ton of touches, so he's doing a good job of improving his fundamentals and maximizing his touches. I think what I see, what you just talked about is in practice. What's showing up to me is I sit behind the offense or the defense, he's getting more and more comfortable with the timing of plays," Gannon said entering the bye week.

"Whether it's gap schemes or pulls out in front of him, when to stick his foot in the ground, when to stretch it. (RB coach) Autry (Denson) does a hell of a job with those guys. It's not just get the ball to the right and run. There's a lot of detail with those guys and he's really doing the little things really well right now. It starts in practice.”

Conner has also been dealing with a knee injury the past few weeks, so Arizona could lean on DeeJay Dallas and Michael Carter once again as their regular season comes to a close.