PPRTyler advised backing off Trey Benson in Underdog best-ball drafts. He noted that recent camp reports and coach comments have been tepid at best— "not a lot of great coach speak coming out"—and worries that Benson is already sliding to second-team reps. Given that Benson is still priced alongside backs with established early-down roles, Tyler capped his own exposure at 6 %, saying he prefers to spend those mid-round picks on cheaper runners in similar committees. The combination of negative momentum plus an unchanged ADP makes Benson a sell or full fade until news turns.

Pat Kerrane voiced real concerns about Trey Benson’s ceiling, noting the 4.39-speed rookie failed to rip off even a single breakaway run or reception on 63 collegiate touches last year. Despite matching Breece Hall’s size-speed measurables, Benson never truly challenged James Conner for work and generated little explosive yardage—an ominous sign for a player being drafted for home-run potential. Kerrane admitted he might still take Benson if the ADP falls far enough to create a cheap Kyler Murray stack, but he cautioned drafters not to reach, dubbing the rookie more name-brand hype than proven production.

Shawn Siegele cautioned drafters against robotically smashing Trey Benson just because he is the young, explosive understudy to James Conner. Yes, Conner’s age-29 season, mileage and perpetual injury tag create a real risk he "falls off a cliff any given Sunday," but Siegele stressed that Conner is still the better real-life back right now and remains priced cheaply himself. Benson’s collegiate coaching staffs, and now the Cardinals, have shown lukewarm enthusiasm for actually giving him volume, which Siegele views as a glaring red flag when drafters start chasing him into the single-digit rounds. The only edge with Benson is a small ADP gap; once that closes, you are paying for a best-case scenario that may never come. Siegele said he will sprinkle Benson only when the price slips multiple rounds—never as a core pick—preferring instead to grab upside veterans elsewhere or simply take Conner at cost.

Evan Silva pushed Trey Benson as one of the highest-upside contingency bets on the board. Drafted 66th overall, Benson was viewed by several analysts Silva trusts as the best back in the entire 2024 class. The rookie’s three-down skill set includes legitimate pass-game ability, a trait that matters on an Arizona depth chart topped by 29-year-old James Conner—an aging workhorse who has already missed 17 games in his career. Silva sees Benson exploding into a feature role if Conner goes down, while still providing occasional standalone value given the Cardinals’ willingness to rotate backs in high-tempo game scripts.

Sean Koerner warned that Trey Benson offers little standalone fantasy value while James Conner is healthy. Benson’s rookie-year snap share actually trended DOWN as the season progressed, and he was almost a non-factor on passing downs. Koerner expects more of the same in 2025: sporadic breather carries with a few flashy runs but nothing consistent enough to start in Season-long lineups. Benson’s path to relevance is a Conner injury, at which point Koerner believes the second-year back would inherit lead duties and carry RB2 upside. Until then he recommends treating Benson strictly as an "injury stash" or late Best-Ball dart, not as a viable Week 1 flex.

James Koh labeled Trey Benson a priority stash because 30-year-old James Conner just set career highs in games played, touches and rush attempts after averaging only 13 games across his first six seasons. Conner’s track record plus age screams regression risk. Benson, meanwhile, posted alien numbers at 216 pounds—running a 4.39 forty—with the lateral agility to match. Koh views him as the ‘explosive second-year player’ ready to inherit feature-back volume the moment Conner’s durability cracks.

Jason Moore highlighted Trey Benson as one of the very few rookie backs worth stashing strictly for insurance purposes. Benson sits behind 29-year-old James Conner, who has missed multiple games in three straight seasons and already carries a "commonly injured" label on the show. Moore noted early camp reports praising Benson’s burst and pass-catching chops, projecting that if Conner goes down Benson would inherit almost the entire early-down and goal-line role in what should be an improved Cardinals offense. That potential three-down workload makes Benson a late-round swing even for managers who do not roster Conner.

Peter Overzet called Trey Benson a "smash in the waiting" and said he is actively drafting the rookie four full rounds after Zach Charbonnet. Overzet noted Benson’s 4.39 forty at 6'0"/216 and believes that profile makes him a near bell-cow if (or when) 29-year-old James Conner inevitably misses time. He compared the pick to the Charbonnet contingent-upside thesis but argued it is better because Conner’s age and career workload create a clearer injury path than Kenneth Walker’s. Even if Benson does not have standalone touches early, Overzet trusts the big-play element—"just looks fast"—and likes that the Cardinals’ Week-17 matchup with the Bengals naturally correlates with Ja'Marr Chase stacks in BBMVI. Bottom line: at pick 138-145 Benson offers elite contingent upside at a discount and is a core exposure in his Best Ball portfolio.

Chris Gimino spotlighted Trey Benson as Round-12’s premier upside swing. James Conner turns 30 this season and has already battled cancer treatment plus multiple MCL injuries, a résumé Gimino said makes him one of the league’s most fragile lead backs. Arizona coaches are already floating "two RB1s" rhetoric, and Benson—age 23 with a top-five speed score—flashed late last year and drew off-season praise. Gimino believes Benson will see meaningful touches from Week 1 and can pay off before any injury, but if Conner misses time there is virtually no competition behind him. In that scenario, projections shoot to 18-plus touches in a Kyler-led offense. Gimino urged best-ball drafters to prioritize Benson as the rare backup who offers standalone flex weeks and true league-winner contingency value.

Steph Miller grouped Trey Benson with Buffalo’s Ray Davis as the two clearest No. 2 backs on high-scoring offenses that have an every-down starter in front of them. She noted that Arizona already uses Ty Johnson strictly as a third-down specialist, so Benson projects to own the early-down contingency role if James Conner misses time. Because both the Bills and Cardinals are expected to score plenty of points, Steph said the two handcuffs carry almost identical weekly upside. Her approach is to draft whichever one is cheaper—or better correlates with the rest of her roster—arguing that the slight ADP gap is free equity for Best Ball Mania drafters who are light on late-round running backs. She admitted to a “blind spot” on Benson exposure and plans to correct it by sprinkling him into more builds going forward.

Ryan McDowell said Trey Benson is a screaming value at RB42 (147 overall) in current Superflex dynasty startup ADP. The entire bet hinges on James Conner turning 30 and carrying a long injury history—2023 was the first year Conner ever cleared 15 games. McDowell argued Arizona will eventually need to see what it has in the 22-year-old, and even a modest bump in touches this season would spike Benson’s dynasty profile. One year ago Benson sat at RB17/89 overall pre-draft, so managers are getting a six-round discount despite nothing negative about his talent surfacing. If Conner goes down, Benson’s value likely rockets into the mid-RB2 range overnight, a jump none of the players drafted around him (Shedeur Sanders, Darnell Mooney, Jerome Ford, Jordan Mason) can match. McDowell framed Benson as the perfect third- or fourth-RB lottery ticket for managers who hammer wide receiver early and want asymmetric upside later.

Pat Fantasy Dog Pound capitalized on Trey Benson tumbling to pick 156—roughly 17 spots after his usual Underdog slot—and called the rookie one of the best value grabs left on the board. Pat emphasized that Benson’s early-down power profile meshes perfectly with Arizona’s revamped run-first scheme under HC J.Gannon and gives him a realistic path to 200 touches if veteran James Conner’s durability issues resurface. The selection also completes a sneaky Week-16 game-stack: Benson faces Atlanta the same week Pat’s roster already features Drake London and Darnell Mooney, creating low-owned correlation in the playoff quarterfinals. Sitting at only 5.9 % Benson exposure across 100+ BBM drafts, Pat said this slip offered both closing-line value and needed portfolio diversification, making the click a “no-brainer” over names like Tyrone Tracy or Dylan Laube.

Pete Overzet said he “really likes” Trey Benson’s current ADP, calling him a bargain for stacking with Cardinals pass pieces. Benson is locked in as the RB2 behind the 29-year-old James Conner, and nothing about Arizona’s depth chart has changed since 2023, yet his price is cheaper than last summer. Overzet values Benson’s combination of early-down ability and goal-line size, noting the obvious contingency appeal if Conner misses time and the low opportunity cost of selecting him in double-digit rounds.

Erik Beimfohr spotlighted Trey Benson as his Round-11 swing, arguing the sophomore back could force a near-even split with 30-year-old James Conner by October. Beimfohr noted Conner has missed at least two games in five of seven NFL seasons while averaging a punishing 19 touches per week. The Cardinals clearly saw the cliff coming— they spent a third-rounder on Benson last year, then gave him 4.6 YPC on limited work and publicly praised his pass-pro chops this spring. Benson’s rookie tape showed several mini-spike games (8-65-1 vs. LAR, 7-48-1 vs. CHI) that matched the explosive profile he flashed at Florida State. Beimfohr projects Arizona to open 2025 using Benson on roughly 40 % of early downs to preserve Conner, a role that already puts him in weekly RB3/FLEX territory in Best Ball. The real payoff is the contingent upside: if Conner’s body finally betrays him, Benson inherits a top-10 workload in an offense that ranked 11th in red-zone trips after Kyler Murray returned. At an ADP that barely cracks the top-130, Beimfohr sees Benson as the perfect blend of standalone value and league-winning ceiling.

Rob Coakley said Trey Benson is the one running back he expects to roster most often by Week 1. Coakley reminded listeners that Arizona added ZERO back-field competition behind aging bell-cow James Conner and that Benson’s play improved down the stretch of his rookie year once his knee finally felt healthy. He projects the Cardinals to open 2025 at something like a 60/40—or even 50/50—split in order to preserve Conner, pointing to last season’s late-year usage bumps for Benson as proof the staff is already comfortable expanding his workload. Conner will still get high-value touches, but Coakley believes Benson’s explosive-play profile and the overall quality of the Kyler-led offense give him weekly spike-week upside without requiring an injury. Because Conner’s name value depresses Benson’s price and the public still views him as mere contingent value, Coakley urged best-ball drafters to scoop Benson heavily before summer ADP corrections hit.