Who Should I Start? Christian McCaffrey or Zach Charbonnet

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.

Wednesday, February 25, 1:47 PM

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said that running back Zach Charbonnet (knee) doesn't have a timetable for a return after undergoing surgery last weekend to fix the torn ACL in his knee that he suffered in the Divisional Round win over the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs, according to Gregg Bell of The Tacoma News Tribune. The typical recovery time for reconstructive knee surgery for ACL tears is eight to 12 months. Seattle doesn't know exactly when Charb might be back in 2026, but Macdonald said the team is "more optimistic than it was initially." The 25-year-old took on a bigger role next to Kenneth Walker III during the 2025 regular season and led the team with 12 rushing touchdowns, the fifth-most in the NFL. He was the first Seahawk with double-digit TDs since Marshawn Lynch in 2014. Walker will be a free agent next month, but even if he departs, Charbonnet's 2026 fantasy value will most likely be down since he probably won't be ready for Week 1.