The Arizona Cardinals drafted running back Eno Benjamin believing he will be the third running back they need for their offensive rotation behind Kenyan Drake and Chase Edmonds.
As he looks ahead to his rookie season, he has Edmonds’ career path to watch to know his own career might go to start off.
“I think I will be used as the type of guy that Chase was used the previous years, just kind of as a rotational guy — just a guy who is going to be called and gets whatever that needs to be done, done,” he said in a video conference with reporters on Wednesday. “That’s as far as I know about that. I’m just going in head down to earn my right to be able to get on that field.”
He, like Edmonds, was a workhorse back in college selected on Day 3 of the draft. Edmonds won over the coaching staff as a rookie and then moved his way up the depth chart in Year 2, winning over the current coaching staff.
Edmonds played a lot on special teams, worked hard in practice and earned the respect of his teammates. When given the opportunity to start, he rushed for 126 yards and three touchdowns in one game when David Johnson was injured and Drake was not yet on the team.
It will be a change going from the No. 1 option on offense like he was with the Sun Devils to being the third-string running back, but it is something he is ready to face and it is something he is used to doing.
“It’s just doing whatever it takes to win and to succeed,” he said. “When I was in high school, I was never the first guy. I had to work my way up. When I got to college, I was not the first guy. I had to work my way up.
“It’s just that same mentality. You start off at the bottom and you work your way to the top and it’s a cycle that never ends. You have to keep working.”
He already has a relationship with Edmonds. They worked out together in Benjamin’s predraft process.
It will be exciting to see him cut his NFL teeth on special teams and potentially getting a few snaps here and there on offense once the season arrives.
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Ep. 266
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Ep.265
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