Who Should I Start? Christian McCaffrey or Ashton Jeanty

Thursday, February 5, 5:06 PM

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey was named the 2025 Comeback Player of the Year on Thursday night, according to Matt Barrows of The Athletic. McCaffrey was limited to only four games in 2024 due to Achilles and knee issues, but he played in all 17 regular-season games in 2025 and led the 49ers in both rushing (1,202) and receiving yards (924). The four-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All-Pro handled a career-high 311 carries and scored 10 rushing touchdowns while also catching 102 passes on 129 targets with an additional seven trips to the end zone as a receiver. The Offensive Player of the Year in 2023 was the RB1 in half-PPR fantasy scoring this year after he slipped to the late first round of many drafts following his injury-plagued 2024 campaign. CMC is entering his age-30 campaign and has a lengthy injury history, but it's simply too hard to ignore his game-changing dual-threat abilities out of the backfield as the engine of San Fran's offense.

Friday, January 30, 3:21 PM

Given his status as the number six overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft, expectations were high for Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty coming into his rookie season. Despite having a miserable supporting cast around him in Las Vegas, the 22-year-old managed to rack up 1,321 scrimmage yards and 10 touchdowns on 321 touches. Still, he left a lot to be desired from an efficiency perspective. Jeanty averaged just 3.7 yards per carry and 4.1 yards per touch in 2025. Heading into 2026, the Raiders will have a new coaching staff and potentially a new quarterback in place, which could help to maximize Jeanty's talent. However, the team may struggle to completely overhaul its offensive line, which profiled as one of the league's worst this past season. Jeanty remains an ultra-high-upside fantasy running back in dynasty formats, but both he and his organization will enter 2026 with plenty to prove.