Who Should I Start? Christian McCaffrey or RJ Harvey

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.

Saturday, February 14, 6:12 AM

Across 17 games as a rookie in 2025, Denver Broncos running back RJ Harvey recorded 896 yards from scrimmage and 12 touchdowns on 193 touches. The 25-year-old opened the season in a relatively limited RB2 role behind veteran Broncos back J.K. Dobbins. However, Dobbins suffered a season-ending foot injury in Week 10, opening the door for Harvey to take on more backfield work. From Week 11 onwards, Harvey recorded 507 yards from scrimmage and scored six touchdowns. Heading into 2026, Harvey looks well-positioned to take over as Denver's full-time lead back as Dobbins is set to hit free agency this spring. The Broncos could easily re-sign Dobbins or bring in a different veteran back to ease Harvey's workload. Still, the trajectory of Harvey's rookie season indicates he's a player on the rise, and his fantasy stock in dynasty formats should be trending upward after 2025.