Who Should I Start? Trey Benson or TreVeyon Henderson

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.

Sunday, January 18, 9:19 AM

New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson is getting ready for one of the toughest matchups of his young career. The rookie will be tasked with finding gaps in one of the NFL's strongest run defenses, the Houston Texans, during the Divisional Round of the playoffs on Sunday afternoon. Henderson was impressive during the back half of the regular season, racking up key yardage, earning snaps over Rhamondre Stevenson, and delivering four different multi-touchdown performances. However, he has started to lose snaps lately, while Stevenson has played incredibly well and is earning more snaps. During the Wild Card Round last week, Henderson had 10 touches for 36 yards on a 41% snap share. Meanwhile, Stevenson had 13 touches for 128 yards on a 63% snap share. Henderson offers a solid change of pace, but he's not a must-start running back this week, especially against a strong run defense. The Texans allowed the eighth-fewest fantasy points to running backs during the regular season, and they held Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell to a combined 63 rushing yards last Monday. As it stands, Henderson ranks as the overall RB9 in RotoBaller's rankings for the Divisional Round, putting him one spot behind Stevenson and one spot ahead of opponent Woody Marks.