Who Should I Start? Najee Harris or Rhamondre Stevenson

Friday, August 15, 10:48 AM

Los Angeles Chargers beat writer Daniel Popper of The Athletic projects Chargers running back Najee Harris (eye) to open the season on the non-football injury list, which means he would be forced to miss the first four games of the season. Popper writes that he has "not seen nearly enough progress at this point to think (Harris) will be ready for Week 1." Harris suffered an eye injury on July 4 and just recently returned to practice in a very limited capacity this week. If Harris does indeed miss a chunk of the regular season, rookie running back Omarion Hampton would have a major opportunity to seize the lead role in the Los Angeles backfield. Hampton is a steady riser in fantasy and profiles as a high-end RB2, while Harris has fallen to RB49 in RotoBaller's half-PPR rankings.

Thursday, August 14, 2:08 PM

New England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson (undisclosed) remained sidelined at Thursday's training camp practice, according to Brian Hines of Pats Pulpit. Stevenson probably isn't in line to suit up for the second preseason game on Saturday against the Minnesota Vikings, but head coach Mike Vrabel said on Wednesday that Stevenson's injury is minor. The 27-year-old shouldn't be in danger of having to miss the start of the 2025 regular season in early September. When Stevenson is healthy and available, he's going to split touches in New England's backfield with rookie TreVeyon Henderson, although given his issues with ball security, this could easily become Henderson's backfield in 2025 when all is said and done. If that ends up happening, Stevenson's best bet for fantasy purposes might be as an RB3/flex touchdown vulture at the goal line.