Who Should I Start? Emari Demercado or Isaac Guerendo

Saturday, December 14, 4:43 PM

Arizona Cardinals running back Emari Demercado (back) has been placed on the injured reserve. Demercado has 24 rushes for 223 yards and a rushing touchdown this season and has added 16 catches for 104 receiving yards. Demercado's absence will likely open the door for more involvement for backup running back Trey Benson behind starter James Conner. Benson has some sneaky speculative pickup value with Demercado out and Conner himself being pretty injury-prone.

Monday, January 6, 10:31 PM

An MRI exam on Monday morning revealed that San Francisco 49ers rookie running back Isaac Guerendo (ankle, knee) suffered an MCL sprain and an ankle sprain in the loss to the division-rival Arizona Cardinals on Sunday in the Week 18 regular-season finale, according to a source. Guerendo will have plenty of time to heal up in the offseason, and the best news is that he didn't suffer any damage to his ACL. Both of the injuries are to his left leg. The 24-year-old fourth-round pick didn't see much of an opportunity in 2024 until late in the season when both Christian McCaffrey (knee) and Jordan Mason (ankle) were ruled out for the year, but when he did get his chances, he was pretty effective out of the Niners' backfield. Guerendo finished with 5.0 yards per carry for 420 yards and four TDs on 84 carries through 16 games. He should serve as valuable insurance for McCaffrey in 2025.