Who Should I Start? Emari Demercado or Will Shipley

Wednesday, November 19, 12:24 PM

Arizona Cardinals running back Emari Demercado (ankle) has been ruled out for the Week 12 contest this Sunday against the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars, head coach Jonathan Gannon said. Demercado suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 11 and will sit out this weekend. Given the nature of the 26-year-old's injury, there's a good chance he'll miss another game in Week 13 versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, too. Meanwhile, Trey Benson (knee) is having his 21-day practice window opened this week, so he's nearing a return for the first time since injuring his knee in Week 4. When Demercado gets over his ankle injury, he just might be the No. 4 RB on Arizona's depth chart, so he's certainly not worth stashing in 12-team fantasy leagues. With Demercado out this week and Benson probably not ready to return yet, Bam Knight could get one more week as the RB1, with Michael Carter working on passing downs.

Friday, November 21, 11:34 PM

Philadelphia Eagles Will Shipley has been relegated mostly to special teams touches and the occasional carry behind Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby as the team's RB3. The Eagles acquired Bigsby ahead of Week 7, and he's mostly served as the primary backup to Barkley. Since then, Bigsby and Shipley have each played 14.5% of the offensive snaps, but Bigsby has 17 carries to Shipley's seven during that span. The 2024 fourth-round pick entered the season as the No. 2 back for the Eagles, then missed Weeks 2 and 3 due to a rib injury, and has now fallen out of favor with the team, going out and trading for another back to have another capable option behind Barkley. Shipley still has some appeal as a handcuff if Barkley were to go down, but it would likely be a timeshare with Bigsby.