Cardinals' Emari Demercado: Set to remain in passing-down role

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The Cardinals plan to keep Demercado in his usual role as a passing-down specialist in Sunday's game against the Titans, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.

Though James Conner (foot) and Trey Benson (knee) have both been sent to injured reserve within the past two weeks, Demercado won't be asked to take on the same three-down role that the other two backs had handled prior to going down with their respective injuries. Instead, the Cardinals plan to have Michael Carter take on the brunt of the snaps on first and second downs, allowing the more explosive Demercado to remain more of a change-of-pace option. That being said, Carter was only recently signed off the practice squad and may not have as much security on early downs as Conner and Benson did when healthy, so Demercado could still have a path to getting more involvement as a runner after carrying just four times through Arizona's first four games. The third-year back has shown the ability to reel off some big gains in the past; he's averaging 6.0 yards per carry on 86 totes through 31 career NFL games.