Who Should I Start? Trey Benson or Jaleel McLaughlin

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.

Wednesday, December 17, 9:47 PM

Denver Broncos running back Jaleel McLaughlin has been buried on Denver's RB depth chart for most of the year. He's been active in only five games in 2025, handling 19 carries for 69 yards (career-low 3.6 yards per carry) while catching three of his four targets for 10 yards. The 25-year-old played only nine offensive snaps (13% snap share) in Sunday's victory over the Green Bay Packers, carrying the ball two times for four yards. McLaughlin has been on the fantasy watch list going into Week 16, though, with rookie RJ Harvey leaving the Week 15 contest late due to a rib injury. Harvey returned to a full practice on Wednesday and is expected to be fine for Week 16 this Sunday against the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars, but his injury is a reminder that McLaughlin would be the likely next man up as Denver's lead back if anything were to happen to Harvey. McLaughlin is handcuff-worthy in deeper fantasy formats, and he's rostered in just 2% of Yahoo leagues.