Who Should I Start? Chase Brown or Emari Demercado

Saturday, December 13, 7:39 PM

Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown wasn't as efficient as a runner in Week 14's loss to the Buffalo Bills, but he made up for it with the fourth multi-touchdown game of his career. Brown has been on a heater over the past few weeks after a slow start to the season. Since Week 8, the 25-year-old running back has totaled 87 carries for 417 yards and two touchdowns while adding 29 receptions (40 targets) for 205 yards and two more touchdowns as a receiver, ranking as the RB6 with 19.2 PPR points per game over that time. Brown has been a high-variance running back this season, posting five games with at least five yards per carry and four games with less than three yards per carry in games where he recorded at least 10 rush attempts. He remains a high-end option in the Bengals' potent offense for Week 15 against the Baltimore Ravens.

Friday, December 19, 1:09 PM

Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said on Friday that running back Michael Carter will get the starting nod in the backfield on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons with Bam Knight (ankle) done for the year, according to Tyler Drake of Arizona Sports. Emari Demercado is "expected to be involved as well." Carter should handle most of the early down work for Arizona in the final three games of the season, with Demercado serving as the team's passing-down specialist. The 26-year-old returned from a three-game absence due to an ankle sprain in last week's loss to the Houston Texans. Demercado played just 11% of the snaps and had one carry for one yard and two catches for no gain on three targets. In 10 games in 2025, he's averaged only 3.2 yards per carry for 242 yards, and no touchdowns on 32 carries on the ground, adding 10 catches for 64 yards and a TD. At best, Demercado will be a low-upside RB3/flex option for fantasy managers in deeper leagues this weekend.