Trey Benson

Trey Benson started his career at Oregon before transferring to Florida State in 2022 after an early torn ACL injury. He first broke out onto the scene in his first year as a Seminole in 2022 - 994 rushing yards and nine TDs. He followed up a strong sophomore season with an even better junior year that saw him post a 23% dominator rating with 14 scores and 905 rushing yards.
However, from an advanced rushing metrics perspective, Benson was superior during his first year at FSU in 2022. The 6-foot and 216-pound rusher (updated from 6-1 and 221 from his college website) ranked sixth in the nation in yards after contact per attempt (4.53) with the sixth-most broken tackles forced (79) at an absurd 51% missed tackle rate per rushing attempt.
NFL teams will like Benson's size and the fact that he has zero fumbles on 348 college touches.
When I first turned on Benson's tape, I was immediately drawn to his NFL comparison to a slightly smaller Leonard Fournette. For a better size comparison - Fournette was around 240 pounds entering the NFL - his style is like Adrian Peterson's. Again, these are not career-projecting comparisons but rather how stylistically he plays the position.
During the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, Benson ran a 4.39 40-yard dash at 216 pounds. His vertical jump was 37th percentile, but his broad jump was above the 70th percentile. Overall the sub-4.4 testing is really the main highlight, given it's at the same time at a similar weight to former RBs, Breece Hall and Peterson. Given Jonathon Brooks' current injury status, Benson's strong outing moves him to my fantasy rookie RB1 overall in the class. His 1.52 10-yard split ranked in the 90th percentile.

The Arizona Cardinals have selected RB Trey Benson with the 66th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Fantasy Impact

Benson joins James Connor, Emari Demarcado, and Michael Carter in the Cardinals' backfield. Although Connor will almost certainly stay above him on the depth chart to start the season, it is reasonable to assume Benson could be second string based on his third round draft capital. His standalone value could be limited if the Cardinals continue to to rely on James Connor, but will serve as a good handcuff.