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When is Trey Benson coming back? Will Trey Benson play again this season? Read about Trey Benson's return date and injury updates for 2025 as of Week 12.
Arizona Cardinals running back Trey Benson (knee) is still working his way back from a knee injury he suffered in Week 4. It's been a long road for Benson after taking over the starting job from RB James Conner (ankle), who's out for the season.
Benson had less than one full game as the RB1 before he was pulled from the game and later placed on injured reserve. In his absence, running backs Emari Demercado (ankle), Bam Knight, and Michael Carter have split reps in a nasty committee backfield system.
Obviously, it's better for fantasy overall if Benson returns. He's the most talented back of the four mentioned in this piece, and he has a chance of making an impact in fantasy leagues down the stretch when he returns. But when is Benson coming back?
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Trey Benson Injury Update for Fantasy Football
He remains on injured reserve for now. Players on IR have to have a 21-day practice window opened to return to practice, and they must be elevated to the active roster within that window or be placed on season-ending injured reserve. So teams don't tend to activate those windows unless they expect a player to return within three games.
Benson's window wasn't opened last week, and while sometimes players can have their practice window opened and play in the same week, that's far from a guarantee. It seems like we're headed for at least one more Benson absence, though it shouldn't be too much longer than that.
Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon has basically refused to give us real updates on Benson's status, instead saying that he's "getting better" which should be obvious. All we can do is guess at this point, and we still don't know the exact type of injury Benson has.
The Cardinals will start practicing on Wednesday, so that's when we'll have more clarity. They should announce if they're opening their practice window for him around then. If they don't open it, then you can start getting more worried that he won't return until potentially Week 13 or later.
Trey Benson Fantasy Football Outlook
Benson's role in the one game that he did play was excellent. He handled all the running back rushes up to the point he was injured, and was targeted five times, catching all those passes. While his production wasn't anything special, the offense appears to have taken a step forward.
QB Kyler Murray (foot), the team's starter to begin the season, suffered a foot injury and was replaced by backup QB Jacoby Brissett. The Cardinals have been notably more productive on offense since then. Murry was playing like one of the worst QBs in the NFL.
Benson should have both the goal line role and the early-down role. He should pretty much play all but the most obvious passing downs, in which he'll likely split carries with... well someone. Now that the team's primary pass-catching back is injured, Benson could even get reps on long down-and-distances.
Demercado played those downs previously, but he's believed to have suffered a high-ankle sprain, which could sideline him for four weeks or longer. Those injuries typically take at least three weeks to come back from, so Benson has an improved outlook for those games.
He's an RB2 if he returns fully healthy, which is far from a certainty. Perhaps he'll be worked in slowly and not get a ton of volume in his first game back. But he should be startable in the fantasy football playoffs due to his talent and the big role he'll be stepping into.
Trey Benson Could be Nearing his Return Heading into Week 12 https://t.co/zLpqQjKnIC
— RotoBaller NFL (@RotoBallerNFL) November 17, 2025
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