NFL Insider John Clayton on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh said on Wednesday that the Miami Dolphins will have interest in free-agent running back James Conner. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, for the past 4 seasons, Conner has accumulated 3,265 total yards and 26 touchdowns.
.@JohnClaytonNFL says on @937theFan the Dolphins are interested in signing James Conner. Clayton expects him to sign for $3-4 million a year.
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) March 10, 2021
In 2018 Conner had his best season in the NFL where he made the Pro Bowl as he ran for 973 yards and 12 touchdowns while also having 55 receptions. Last season in 2020 Conner played in 13 games, starting 11, and ran for 721 yards and 6 touchdowns. He also brought in 35 receptions.
Conner is from Erie, Pennslyvania, and went to college at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2015 while rehabbing a knee injury he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma during the rehab process. During that offseason, he beat cancer was told he is cancer-free.
The Dolphins will be looking to re-shape their running back room this offseason as they need to add a veteran and a rookie this offseason to the mix with what they currently have with Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed. The Dolphins have also been linked to free-agent running back Aaron Jones of the Packers as well. It will be interesting to see what veteran running back the Dolphins target once free agency begins.
Stop it with all these injured retreads already. We need to purge players that are constantly injured, not hoard them.
Let me clarify: Connor is a class guy, but anyone who watched him last year knows he’s an average player at best. Read somewhere that after week 12–when the wheels fell off in Pittsburgh–he didn’t rush for more than 40 yds in a game. In fact, total rush yards per game last year were 55.5 for Connor and 58.4 for Gaskin, and the team rushing totals for the year were worse than ours (Pitt 1351, Fins 1688). He is 40ish pounds bigger than Gaskin, but he was hurt just as as much. The fact that Pittsburgh management and their fans don’t think he’s worth re-signing is all I need to know.
He’d be a good pickup. Not an overpriced talent. Is a big back, and he’s 25 so he should still have some gas in the tank.