ARIZONA — After the Arizona Cardinals waived Trey Benson with an injury designation, the third-year running back cleared waivers and is now back on the team’s injured reserve list.
According to the NFL transaction wire, Benson was bypassed by all other 31 teams on the waiver list before landing back in Arizona. Traditionally, other teams will allow a player with a waived/injured designation to clear so they can land on IR in what’s generally considered a procedural move.
Since Benson was placed on injured reserve before final roster cuts, he will effectively be out for the entire 2026 season — at least in Arizona. If Benson regains full health, the two sides can reach an injury settlement, which would allow Benson to hit the open market and potentially play elsewhere in 2026.
Benson was not spotted at Cardinals practice in recent days while his early participation was mostly restricted to individual drills during training camp practices. He did not play in any preseason games after a ramp-up to team activities saw a “flare-up” according to Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur.
LaFleur spoke with reporters minutes before Benson was waived with an injury designation
“We’re just taking it one day at a time with Trey right now. Truly, that’s all I got for you with that,” said LaFleur, who was then asked if Benson would be an injured reserve candidate.
“We’ll probably have a better understanding of that, I would say, after we get out of this game.”
As fate would have it, the Cardinals officially revealed less than an hour later Benson would be placed on waivers, effectively ending his 2026 season in Arizona before it even started.
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