Who Should I Start? Keaton Mitchell or Trey Benson

Tuesday, December 16, 1:02 PM

Baltimore Ravens running back Keaton Mitchell is emerging as an explosive backfield complement to lead back Derrick Henry as the Ravens push for a playoff spot in 2025. Mitchell played a season-high 39% of the offensive snaps in Sunday's shutout victory over the Cincinnati Bengals and had a season-high eight carries for 66 yards (8.3 yards per carry). He was unable to haul in his only target in the passing game. Rasheen Ali found the end zone on a 16-yard reception, but the 23-year-old Mitchell had only three fewer carries than Henry on the day, and he now has 173 scrimmage yards and a touchdown in the last three contests. Injuries have slowed Mitchell down early in his NFL career, but the third-year back has always been explosive (7.1 yards per carry in 23 games) and is definitely worth a waiver-wire pickup going into a Week 16 date against the Patriots on Sunday night. Mitchell is rostered in only 3% of Yahoo leagues at the moment.

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.