FA RB James Conner (Steelers) - Signed to Contract 04/13/21

[Shane]

Johnny Venerable

The James Conner addition is a classic low risk, high reward move that doesn't stop Arizona from targeting a back in the early rounds. Bottom line with Conner is that when he plays, he produces in the tune of over 4 yards per carry. He is also a capable receiver.
Conner should also benefit from a reworked Cardinal interior oline. At 6'1, 230 pounds, he immediately becomes the team's short yardage option. Instead of Kenyan Drake and Mason Cole on 4th-and-short, it'll now be James Conner and Rodney Hudson.

this all day.... good signing

 

[Shane]

Naw B.

We signed a depth guy who isn't an embarrassing starter. He's a mid-level guy on what should be a decent contract.

yep

 

[Krangodnzr]

Lol. You’re not wrong. Here’s how I see it:

2021: keim making big time roll of dice on old and oft-injured guys. He hits on all this team could win the division. Hits on some it’s likely around .500 season, maybe squeak into wildcard. Misses on a lot we slide back to 5 wins.

2022: keim has to rebuild roster bc of expiring contracts, one year deals, poor drafting and is staring looming big QB contract in face - likely utter failure

The writing is on the wall, Keim should be fired, but it's hard to do that after a season where the Cardinals showed big improvement.

I think what we should hope if the Cardinals don't take a step forward, is that Keim is fired and a whole new personnel staff comes in.

 

[mjb21aztd]

The writing is on the wall, Keim should be fired, but it's hard to do that after a season where the Cardinals showed big improvement.

I think what we should hope if the Cardinals don't take a step forward, is that Keim is fired and a whole new personnel staff comes in.

Check there dui records lol jking

But yea if cards fail to make pofs i say 2 yrs clean house

 

[TJ]

IF we’re doing RB by committee, which I’d surmise will happen w/ Edmonds, I think this signing is fine. Neither is going to eclipse 1000 years, so might as well keep the workload light. Plus, both Conner and Edmonds are good receivers, so they can be on the field for all downs.

This doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t consider Najee Harris in the second round if he were available

 

[football karma]

2022: keim has to rebuild roster bc of expiring contracts, one year deals, poor drafting and is staring looming big QB contract in face - likely utter failure

this isnt picking on you Ouchie, but I see this a lot.

fwiw:

the Cards are middle of the pack in the NFL in terms of players under contract for 2022 -- and in good share cap wise with $22m As a comparison, the Packers have the same number of players under contract, but are sitting at -$8mm in space.

in fairness, this doesnt capture the quality of players under contract vs other teams, or,

the fact that a K1 extension will be looming at this time next year (although, QB extensions for drafted rookies get announced going into year 4, but the giant dollars dont kick in until year 5 or later. As an example, Goff's deal was prior to the 2019 season, but his cap hit didnt get big until 2021. Mahommes deal is was similar.)

this offseason has basically forced every competitive team to do short term deals, often with voidable years attached to them.

 

[az jam]

im not ruling out running back in the draft still, and, it opens the board to all types.

prior to Connor, I thought they needed to go big


now, smaller guys who are really good catching out of the backfield are in play:

Etienne at #49 or maybe trade down in Rd 1

Michael Carter of NC, or Kenneth Gainwell of Memphis (although 49 is too high for those two, likely gone by 160)

Javian Hawkins of Lou probably there at 160

You make an excellent point. It now allows us to look at all the running backs in the draft rather than just big short yardage ones.

 

[Krangodnzr]

this isnt picking on you Ouchie, but I see this a lot.

fwiw:

the Cards are middle of the pack in the NFL in terms of players under contract for 2022 -- and in good share cap wise with $22m As a comparison, the Packers have the same number of players under contract, but are sitting at -$8mm in space.

in fairness, this doesnt capture the quality of players under contract vs other teams, or,

the fact that a K1 extension will be looming at this time next year (although, QB extensions for drafted rookies get announced going into year 4, but the giant dollars dont kick in until year 5 or later. As an example, Goff's deal was prior to the 2019 season, but his cap hit didnt get big until 2021. Mahommes deal is was similar.)

this offseason has basically forced every competitive team to do short term deals, often with voidable years attached to them.

And most observers believe the cap is going to jump substantially next year.

 

[Proximo]

I am going to ask this simple question.

If Conner is so great, why did the Steelers not want to resign him, and why was he still a free agent as of yesterday?

The answer is obvious - he is not a RB teams are excited about, including the team he has been the primary back for 3 years.

If he is comparable to Drake - why did Drake get 8 million a year, and was signed a couple days after free agency started? Anybody that has watched both play knows the answer - Drake is the superior RB.

 

[Krangodnzr]

I am going to ask this simple question.

If Conner is so great, why did the Steelers not want to resign him, and why was he still a free agent as of yesterday?

The answer is obvious - he is not a RB teams are excited about, including the team he has been the primary back for 3 years.

If he is comparable to Drake - why did Drake get 8 million a year, and was signed a couple days after free agency started? Anybody that has watched both play knows the answer - Drake is the superior RB.

<<<STRAWMAN ALERT>>>

No one is arguing that Conner is "so great".

All it takes is one dumb team to over pay a player. Would you pay Drake 8 million a year? I wouldn't pay 5 million.

 

[GatorAZ]

Slow runner but doesn’t dance;

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[Ronin]

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[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

We have watched this team for decades now. This RB isn't that bad, we've seen WAY worse.

They can win with this group.

Sign me up for CB round 1 and Javonte Williams round 2.

You’re not wrong, but being happy bc we have better than god awful is a tough pill to swallow.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I've literally tweeted in the last 2 hours how a stable of castoffs and UDFA's had more yards than the 2 RB's we went into last season with that nobody seemed to have an issue with.

I’m glad your tweeterverse supports your position.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

would that be the Tevin Coleman of 53 yards on 28 attempts last year?

i agree the Mostert is better than Connor or Edmunds

not sure about the rest

Eh leaning into Coleman’s injury doesn’t support your argument in favor of an injury prone Conner . . .

 

[Ronin]

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[football karma]

And most observers believe the cap is going to jump substantially next year.

it will go up, but not back to normal by next year (2023 for that).

based on the stated revenue share model in the CBA, the cap would have been something like $165mm this year

the owner and players agreed to defer that shortfall over a few seasons -- so this year it went up to $182. the $17mm difference per team still has to come out of the cap. The new TV deals help but still.....

 

[Shane]

I am going to ask this simple question.

If Conner is so great, why did the Steelers not want to resign him, and why was he still a free agent as of yesterday?

The answer is obvious - he is not a RB teams are excited about, including the team he has been the primary back for 3 years.

If he is comparable to Drake - why did Drake get 8 million a year, and was signed a couple days after free agency started? Anybody that has watched both play knows the answer - Drake is the superior RB.

That’s a BS analysis...
Teams lit players leave all the time good ones does that mean the all the good players suck because their teams let them go? Gtfoh with that bs logic

 

[Brian in Mesa]

:championship:

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Naw B.

We signed a depth guy who isn't an embarrassing starter. He's a mid-level guy on what should be a decent contract.

Joining an unproven starter. Like I said I’m fine with the signing. But it’s not exactly an inspiring rb room.

 

[Ronin]

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[Solar7]

It's a whatever signing because it's probably cheap, but it's a pain because I just strongly feel we won't invest anything meaningful in an RB in the draft. We'll be sitting here next offseason signing Kyler to a big contract with 0 players at RB besides Eno and some other 6th round special teams player and picking over the scrap heap again. And we won't have TEs. Or WRs. Or CBs.

I'm calling my shot - Cards end the season bottom 10 in rushing production from RBs, team suffers its 6th consecutive non-winning season.

Conner will probably end up starting half of our games or more.

 

[Ronin]

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[Proximo]

That’s a BS analysis...
Teams lit players leave all the time good ones does that mean the all the good players suck because their teams let them go? Gtfoh with that bs logic

Yeah, they let them go because they want more money than they are willing to pay.

Just watch, we gave this guy near the Vet minimum.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

this isnt picking on you Ouchie, but I see this a lot.

fwiw:

the Cards are middle of the pack in the NFL in terms of players under contract for 2022 -- and in good share cap wise with $22m As a comparison, the Packers have the same number of players under contract, but are sitting at -$8mm in space.

in fairness, this doesnt capture the quality of players under contract vs other teams, or,

the fact that a K1 extension will be looming at this time next year (although, QB extensions for drafted rookies get announced going into year 4, but the giant dollars dont kick in until year 5 or later. As an example, Goff's deal was prior to the 2019 season, but his cap hit didnt get big until 2021. Mahommes deal is was similar.)

this offseason has basically forced every competitive team to do short term deals, often with voidable years attached to them.

But your comment about the quality of players signed is key. And the one year deals just are what they are. What it ultimately boils down to is we have to count on keim for rebuilds in back to back to years and he inspires little confidence in me to do so.