Who Should I Start? Christian McCaffrey or Trey Benson

Thursday, December 11, 8:45 PM

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (illness) was a limited participant during practice on Thursday. This was an improvement in status for McCaffrey, who missed practice entirely on Wednesday. He's trending in the right direction to play against the Tennessee Titans in Week 15, but managers should check back on Friday for additional confirmation on his status. If he's able to practice in full, he could avoid any sort of injury designation heading into the weekend. However, if he remains limited, the 49ers may list him as questionable. With that being said, the fact that McCaffrey was able to get on the field in some capacity on Thursday bodes well for his Week 15 availability. If active, he'll rank as a high-end RB1 against the Titans, who have allowed the 10th-most fantasy points to running backs in 2025.

Wednesday, December 10, 12:00 PM

Arizona Cardinals running back Trey Benson (knee) will not be activated off Injured Reserve for the team's Week 15 matchup against the Houston Texans, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Since Benson will not return within his 21-day activation window, he will revert to season-ending IR and will not be eligible to return in 2025. Benson suffered a knee injury in Week 4 that was serious enough to land him on IR, but was not thought at the time to be season-ending. It's unclear whether the 23-year-old suffered a setback once his activation window was opened, or if the 3-10 Cardinals are simply choosing to be cautious with their potential running back of the future. Either way, Benson should now be completely off the radar of redraft fantasy managers for the remainder of 2025. His absence ups the value of Cardinals running backs Bam Knight and Michael Carter, who should continue to see the majority of the team's backfield snaps. Emari Demercado (ankle) could play a role in Arizona as well once he returns from the ankle injury that has sidelined him since Week 11.