NFC West running back corps ranked worst to best for 2023
By Peter Panacy
Niner Noise dives into the running back rooms for all four teams within the NFC West, including the much-heralded 49ers.
Historically, at least over the last decade plus, the NFC West has been a run-first division despite the leaguewide trend of pass-first offenses.
Granted, this isn't a universal phenomenon. But, considering head coaches Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams and Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers both stem from the same coaching tree that was based upon the ground attack, it makes sense.
Tack on the once-vaunted "ground and pound" rushing attack from the Seattle Seahawks that helped that team be a perennial Super Bowl contender 10 years ago, and one can see why running backs have been important to the NFC West for a long, long time.
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Now, with the 2023 season on the horizon, which NFC West squad can feel the most potent (and powerful) with its running back room?
Going from worst to first, let's rank out each team's running back corps.
No. 4: Arizona Cardinals
Projected starter: James Conner
It's hard to dispute the Arizona Cardinals being the fourth-best team in the NFC West this year, and they even had their quarterback, Kyler Murray, wind up fourth on Niner Noise's ranking of each division's starting signal-caller, too.
Veteran tailback James Conner telegraphed an 18-touchdown campaign in 2021 into a lucrative contract, but the deeper statistics reveal that he's never been a true difference-maker, particularly looking at his average of just 3.7 rush yards that season, which only improved up to 4.3 in 2022.
On top of that, Conner has never had a 1,000-yard rush season.
Having dealt with injuries, facing an entirely new offense under first-year head coach Jon Gannon and potentially missing Murray, who is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered last December, all defenses are going to hone in on Conner in an attempt to crush an otherwise inadequate Arizona offense.
Conner simply isn't impressive enough to shoulder the load,
After jettisoning a fan favorite in Eno Benjamin last year, Conner's primary backup in 2023 will be Keaontay Ingram, who averaged 2.2 yards per carry on 27 rushes last year.