RB Conner re-signs with Cards

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I don't expect him to have a heavier workload than he did the 2nd half of the season. I still expect him to split the load with at least one other back.

I just expect him to get more receiving work over the whole season instead of only activating "Receiving mode" after game 8. He averaged over 50 yards a game in the 7 games he played after that point.

Something like 15 carries / 5 targets per game.

And he broke down in the second half of the season. Just put me down as “not confident Conner can carry 20 touches per game for very long.”

 

[cardsfanmd]

Where this kind of falls apart is the reason they started doing so was due to Edmonds going out. And the problem there is that JC was subsequently overused and ended up hurt. You just can't expect JC to go out as the #1 with no co-starter and just rack up tons of rushing and receiving yards, as well as TDs, without breaking down. And what do we do when our ONLY viable starting RB breaks down?

This isn't to say he wasn't good last year; he was. When Edmonds had HIS inevitable injury, however, our coaching staff leaned too heavily on JC. We definitely need another back that can share the load. If we give JC almost all the touches from game 1, we'll be making a mistake.

I agree but I’d say, in this day and age, you can’t expect that from any NFL RB. There are lead backs who make it through a season without missing time but they’re the exception, not the rule.

 

[cardsfanmd]

And he broke down in the second half of the season. Just put me down as “not confident Conner can carry 20 touches per game for very long.”

I think he can handle 20 but not much more. Honestly, I don’t think there are many backs who can, especially with his running style.

 

[Stout]

I agree but I’d say, in this day and age, you can’t expect that from any NFL RB. There are lead backs who make it through a season without missing time but they’re the exception, not the rule.

Agreed.

 

[gimpy]

Agreed.

Ok, Stout, no more complaining that JC is injury prone.

 

[Dayman]

What you need to bare in mind with Conner is that despite being a dual threat in Pit the Cards didn't throw him the ball until game 9 and he missed 2 games late in the season.

The 375 yards he had and all those 1 handed catches all came in 7 games in the 2nd half of the year. Which was a terrible coaching decision. Not sure what Kliff was doing.

Had they used him the same way the full season he would have had 800 receiving yards. Which is surely what they intend and why he was paid what he was.

Austin Ekler had the most receiving yards for a RB last year with 647. Corderelle Patterson was second with 548.

I would happily take the under at 500 yards receiving for Conner next year.

 

[Stout]

Ok, Stout, no more complaining that JC is injury prone.

Haha, nice try

 

[WeBlitz]

Woo.

 

[DVontel]

It’s going to be a funny, but yet, sad sight to see when Conner is averaging 3.8 YPC & doesn’t finish with half as many total TDs as he did last season. Realization will come probably around week 11.

8 more weeks.

 

[Russ Smith]

This one I got right my comment was I would have prioritized Chase over Conner, I realized Conner gets tough yards and that's important but if it was one or the other I would have kept Chase.

Conner you love the guy, overcame cancer, plays so hard etc, but he's always been slow and with a bunged up ankle it just made no sense it was apparent on his first 2 carries he had no burst, hadn't practiced during the week should have played Williams and Eno.

 

[GoldGloveschmidt]

Huge overpay, should have drafted a young guy and ran him into the ground over the 4 year rookie deal. Bad cap allocation here.

Does Conner do anything Ingram couldn't do right now?

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Paying a RB big money is almost always a losing decision.

 

[Dayman]

Paying a RB big money is almost always a losing decision.

Especially while ignoring the O-line. It's GMing 101.

 

[cardpa]

Could have kept Edmonds and signed Williams which they did anyway and Williams can do the same thing Connors does at a much cheaper price.

 

[SoonerLou]

8 more weeks.

I wonder if they didnt re-sign Conner would they have drafted Dameon Pierce with the Myjai Sanders pick.

He was one of the guys the Cards were rumored to like.

 

[Dayman]

Conner's longest run of the year so far is 10 yards. Everyone else on the team with a carry this year has a long run of at least 14 yards.

 

[Chopper0080]

I wonder if they didnt re-sign Conner would they have drafted Dameon Pierce with the Myjai Sanders pick.

He was one of the guys the Cards were rumored to like.

Probably wouldn't be getting snaps like the rest of our rookies.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Connor is a solid RB. It's Kliff's offense and play calling that sucks and is predictable.

Let's see a typical play call from Kliff:

Have Kyler run around in circles and motion out two WR with Connor left in the backfield. I wonder who is getting the ball and what he is going to do with it??? Direct snap to Connor and run up the middle. My dog could have predicted that play.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Paying a RB big money is almost always a losing decision.

This wasn't big money. Big money is 10M+ a year that McCaffery/Henry got.

 

[DVontel]

Connor is a solid RB. It's Kliff's offense and play calling that sucks and is predictable.

Let's see a typical play call from Kliff:

Have Kyler run around in circles and motion out two WR with Connor left in the backfield. I wonder who is getting the ball and what he is going to do with it??? Direct snap to Connor and run up the middle. My dog could have predicted that play.

I agree that Kliff’s offense is predictable, but Connor as a talent alone is a middling one. He’s slow, not explosive, plodding, not elusive, & overall just a boring RB. Chase Edmonds & Kenyan Drake were in this same offense for a while & both were more efficient than Connor.

If football were based on 2 yards to go instead of 10 for the first down, he would be one of the best RBs in the league. Doesn’t work out like that though.

Us doubters called it because we look past the “He’s tough. Has heart. He’s gritty” nonsense because absolutely none of that has to do with positive production. 3.0 YPC in 2022 is straight up indefensible.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Connor is a solid RB. It's Kliff's offense and play calling that sucks and is predictable.

Let's see a typical play call from Kliff:

Have Kyler run around in circles and motion out two WR with Connor left in the backfield. I wonder who is getting the ball and what he is going to do with it??? Direct snap to Connor and run up the middle. My dog could have predicted that play.

That play isn't typical. Come on. It has happened, what twice this year out of 225+ plays?

 

[Russ Smith]

I agree that Kliff’s offense is predictable, but Connor as a talent alone is a middling one. He’s slow, not explosive, plodding, not elusive, & overall just a boring RB. Chase Edmonds & Kenyan Drake were in this same offense for a while & both were more efficient than Connor.

If football were based on 2 yards to go instead of 10 for the first down, he would be one of the best RBs in the league. Doesn’t work out like that though.

Us doubters called it because we look past the “He’s tough. Has heart. He’s gritty” nonsense because absolutely none of that has to do with positive production. 3.0 YPC in 2022 is straight up indefensible.

yep he's a great guy and I wish we had more guys as tough as he is. but he's not a great RB, he can get the short yardage and he gives you everything he has, but he's just not fast enough.

Every game there's 1-2 plays where you think first down easy and he either doesn't get there or has to break a tackle to get there. Great guy but we overpaid for him and I think if we were going to overpay for a RB Edmonds made more sense or the smarter move sign neither of them and get one cheaper in the draft and spend the money elsewhere.

So far in all 3 games it seems when he's not in the lineup the offense is better, until we get in the short yardage situations

 

[MadCardDisease]

That play isn't typical. Come on. It has happened, what twice this year out of 225+ plays?

It happens more than you think.

Week 1 they had a 3rd and 1 and went shotgun and motioned the RB out of the backfield. That ended in a sack.

Motion Connor out to WR. Oh that's going to be a WR screen to Connor.

How many countless times do they have Murray alone in shotgun formations? That's fine if you are willing to have Murray run but he looks reluctant to run this season so far. So it's a predictable passing situation where the Defense doesn't have to worry about the run.

Kliff's offense is so predictable I'm calling out the plays to my wife regularly and she is like "how did you know that?".

 

[DVontel]

yep he's a great guy and I wish we had more guys as tough as he is. but he's not a great RB, he can get the short yardage and he gives you everything he has, but he's just not fast enough.

Every game there's 1-2 plays where you think first down easy and he either doesn't get there or has to break a tackle to get there. Great guy but we overpaid for him and I think if we were going to overpay for a RB Edmonds made more sense or the smarter move sign neither of them and get one cheaper in the draft and spend the money elsewhere.

So far in all 3 games it seems when he's not in the lineup the offense is better, until we get in the short yardage situations

Being honest, he might be the worst RB on the roster. I fully believe Williams & Benjamin are better than him. Im willing to bet that Ingram & Ward are better as well.

So basically, Keim overpaid on the 5th best RB on the team.

 

[SoonerLou]

Being honest, he might be the worst RB on the roster. I fully believe Williams & Benjamin are better than him. Im willing to bet that Ingram & Ward are better as well.

So basically, Keim overpaid on the 5th best RB on the team.

Not going that far. Conner still does the little things to help a team win. The problem is we used the more explosive Chase on our track meet team last year (at least to start the year). And then Conner could come in hammer teams later in the games.

Paying him, forcing him to start games might have been the wrong play but he still has value.