2025 Fantasy Football: Arizona Cardinals Team Preview
Last season, the Cardinals’ offense stood out, ranking 2nd in yards per rush, 4th in goal-to-go situations, 5th in sacks per pass attempt, and 8th on third downs. The biggest leap came from having Kyler Murray back for the full season after he missed more than half the year in 2023, leading Arizona’s passing attack to jump from 28th in pass yards per play in 2023 to 15th last season.
QB: Kyler Murray
Murray missed 3 games in 2021, 6 games in 2022 and 9 in 2023 before having his first season with 17 starts last year. Murray hadn’t completed a full season since his first 2 years in the league back in 2019 and 2020 when he started all 32 games.
Last year, Murray’s stats were similar to what he put up over his first 3 years in the NFL. 2024 stats: 69% completions, 3,853 passing yards, 21 TDs / 11 INTs with 572 rushing yards, 5 TDs. 2019-2021 stats: 67% completions, 3,827 passing yards 23 TDs / 11 INTs with 595 rushing yards 7 TDs.
RB: James Conner
He continues to get better with age as he set his career-high in carries in 2024 with 236 and managed his 2nd straight season of 1,000+ rushing yards with 9+ total TDs. Last year also marked the second time in three years that he recorded 45+ receptions, and the third time in his career. The 5.0 ypc in 2023 and 4.6 in 2024 are also the 2 highest of his 8-year career.
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – SEPTEMBER 12: James Conner #6 celebrates with DeAndre Hopkins #10 of the Arizona Cardinals after a touchdown during the game against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on September 12, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Cardinals defeated the Titans 38-13. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
RB: Trey Benson
In limited action, Benson ran for 291 yards and a TD on just 63 carries and matched Conner’s 4.6 ypc. He didn’t get heavily involved in the passing game but did catch all 6 targets he saw for 59 yards. His season was cut short due to an ankle injury, which led to him missing the last 3 games of the season.
Between 9/29 and 12/8, Benson had 8 games with at least 1 carry, yet he recorded at least 1 rush of 9+ yards in all 8 games, despite only averaging 5 carries per game.
WR: Marvin Harrison Jr.
Harrison Jr. played in all 17 games and was targeted 116 times for 62 / 885 / 8. While he averaged 14.3 yards per catch, he had a low catch rate of 53%. The Cardinals had TE, Trey McBride, to take some pressure off him, but it didn’t help the efficiency of the Murray-Harrison connection.
WR: Michael Wilson
Wilson had 11 more receptions in 2024 than his rookie season the year prior, but managed 17 fewer yards as his YPR dropped from 14.9 to 11.7 as he became more of a possession receiver with Harrison Jr. as the big play option and McBride as the security blanket, along with the running backs.
WR: Greg Dortch
Dortch finished last year with 37 / 342 / 3 but after starting well, he had a lull in his performance as Zay Jones joined the lineup. Dortch went from an average of 34 snaps a game over the first 6 games, down to 20 snaps per game for the next 7. During the 7-game stretch coinciding with Jones’ entrance, Dortch only totaled 7 receptions for 24 yards.
WR: Zay Jones
Jones got a late start to the season in his first year in Arizona due to a 5-game suspension with an injury on the back of it. When he returned, he didn’t contribute much until the last game of the season. In his first 10 games, he had 4 receptions on 6 targets for 38 yards. In Week 18 he caught 4 of 5 targets for 46 yards.
TE: Trey McBride
McBride took a breakout 2023 with a statline of 81 / 825 / 3 and blew it out of the water in 2024, putting up 111 / 1,146 / 2 in 16 games. McBride was not only the #1 option for the Cardinals last year, his 111 receptions was 4th in the entire NFL. The 111 receptions are also the 4th most all-time in a season by a tight end, just 5 shy of Zach Ertz’s 2018 record of 116.
GLENDALE, ARIZONA – OCTOBER 29: Trey McBride #85 of the Arizona Cardinals celebrates after a receiving touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Baltimore Ravens at State Farm Stadium on October 29, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
BREAKOUT PLAYER: Marvin Harrison Jr.
The most TDs caught in a season during Kyler Murray’s time in Arizona is 8 (DeAndre Hopkins & Marvin Harrison Jr.). The last time a receiver caught double-digit touchdowns for the Cardinals was Larry Fitzgerald, who had 10 back in 2013. Harrison reaches 10 TDs in 2024 with 75 receptions for over 1,000 yards.
BUST: James Conner
Before Conner started 16 games last year, Conner had only managed to play in more than 13 games once out of his previous 6 seasons. Conner turned 30 in May, and there are only 6 active running backs with more career carries.
A year after setting his career-high in carries, Conner will have his lowest total of rushes since 2019 and fail to reach 700 rushing yards and 6 rushing TDs for the first time since that same year. It’ll be partly due to injury and partly due to Benson taking on a bigger role.
SLEEPER: Trey Benson
Benson starts the season with a bigger share of the touches than he saw as a rookie, then sees his role grow into a starter as Conner misses time. He’ll finish his second season with 165+ carries for 700 yards on the ground with 30+ receptions for 250+ yards and 8 total TDs.
BOLD PREDICTION: Kyler Murray
In the first 10 games of 2024, Murray averaged 28 pass attempts per game and threw 12 TDs / 3 INTs. Over the last seven games, when they needed him to do more, he averaged 38 attempts per game and threw 9 touchdowns to 8 interceptions.
Before the meaningless Week 18 game in which he threw 4 TDs / 0 INTs, he had totaled 5 TDs / 8 INTs. The most interceptions thrown in the NFL last year were 16. Murray will match that mark in 2025.
