Fantasy Experts Split on Starting/Sitting James Conner

Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner was seen by many as an underrated target for fantasy football players heading into 2023.

Though Arizona is seen as cold spot for fantasy positions such as QB/WR/TE, Conner's opportunity as the clear RB1 along with his pass-catching ability and previous touchdown production gave potential owners hope he could outperform his draft position.

Last week ultimately didn't prove too shabby for Conner, who scored 12 points in PPR leagues and finished as RB20. He played 84% of snaps.

He's now set to square off against a New York Giants team looking to rebound after an embarrassing 40-0 loss to open the season.

Should Conner be started? Fantasy football voices seem to be split.

PFF

"Conner received 19 touches in Week 1 but could only total 70 yards against the Commanders. He did not get into the end zone, but his fantasy day was saved thanks to five receptions. Don’t expect him to get into the end zone in this game either, as the Giants do have a strong interior defensive line that should stifle the run game of the Cardinals."

Pro Football Network

"And the award for the most projectable stat line of Week 1 goes to … James Conner! In a mess of an offensive game, Conner touched the ball 19 times for 70 yards with no touchdowns. We’re going to end up within one standard deviation of that production just about every week, but as underwhelming as it may be, it was good for an RB24 finish against the Commanders.

"Rinse, repeat. Get ready for an equally boring, semi-useful stat line. One more indicator of his limited per-touch upside is the fact that 137.5% of Conner’s receiving yards came on one of his five receptions."

However, not everyone is against starting Conner in Week 2:

FantasyPros

"Conner is the desert dumpster fire bellcow. He played 84% of the snaps in Week 1 with 19 touches and 70 total yards. Conner ranked 18th in yards after contact per attempt in Week 1 among 55 qualifying running backs, but he didn't force one missed tackle. Despite Conner's shortcomings and the surrounding offense, he should have a productive day in Week 2. New York allowed the third-highest explosive run rate and fifth-lowest stuff rate last year. In Week 1, 64% of Conner's runs were on gap-designed plays. Last season, New York was tied for the highest yards per carry allowed to gap runs (5.95). Conner is an RB2 with RB1 upside."

Sportskeeda

"It’s hard to feel good about the Arizona Cardinals offense. This team had barely over 200 yards of offense in Week 1. But If you dig deeper, you’ll see that James Conner is the engine that runs this nearly broken-down machine.

"Conner had 19 touches in the opener. That equated to 12 PPR points. That’s precisely what we want to see from our running backs. Opportunity leads to results.

"Conner has a home contest against a Giants defense that gave up over four yards per carry and three rushing touchdowns to Dallas. Arizona doesn’t have a quarterback they can lean on to carry them to a victory. In such situations, they’ll lean on players like Conner to tote the rock. Start Conner with confidence."

Conner was limited this week in practice with a calf injury but was ultimately cleared from the injury report on Friday.