Trey Benson Fails to Return from IR, Bam Knight to Lead Cardinals Backfield
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The Cardinals have just announced that Trey Benson will not be returning this season. He had his 21-Day practice window opened, but it was not enough time for Benson to get back on the field. Unless you own Benson, this is actually nice to gain further clarity on this often confusing Cardinals backfield. They have three Running Backs up battling it out and we will, once again, evaluate this Running Back depth chart minus Benson.
Cardinals Running Back Splits
Last 5 Games | Bam Knight | Michael Carter | Emari Demercado |
|---|---|---|---|
Rushing Attempts | 43 | 18 | 9 |
Attempts per Game | 8.6 | 3.6 | 4.5 |
Yards per Attempt | 3.3 | 3.1 | 7.8 |
Touchdowns | 2 | 0 | 0 |
For the most part, Knight has been the RB1 for the Cardinals. However, Demercado has only been active for two of the last five games.
As we see very clearly, Demercado is a highly explosive Running Back. Though a limited sample size, he has over 2x better output in Yards per Attempt. In his time that had been played, he outsnapped Carter. We can be lead to think that Demercado may eventually outsnap Knight.
Injury Status: Emari Demercado
Demercado has spent time injured and that has really affected his value as a Fantasy Football asset. It had been expected over many weeks that Demercado would be the RB1, but he has not been able to remain healthy.
Unfortunately for Demercado, he expects to be out again in Week 15. This hurts any upside that he might have. However, I would place him in an IR slot rather than dropping him as his upside, when back, still trends lucrative. If you need a high-upside option in a pinch, he can yet be valuable in Weeks 16-18, if healthy.
What to Expect
The Cardinals now have a two-headed backfield between Knight or Carter. It appears quite clear what this will become to be.
Knight will be the RB1 and Carter will be the RB2, more of a third-down back type. The split will likely be: Knight 60-70%, Carter 30-40% .
Fantasy Sports On SI Week 15 Ranking:
Bam Knight: RB32
Michael Carter: RB45
This slots in Knight as a Flex option, and not an RB2. Carter will be unusable, but worth a handcuff roster spot if you deem him your best man available for that spot.
Week 15 Matchup
The Cardinals will face the Texans in Week 15, and this bodes very bad for the Cardinals offense.
The Texans are the far-best FPI 1st ranked defense. Their weakness, if any, is their 9th ranked defense versus Running Backs. They are 5th in Rushing Yards Allowed and this game script will make it worse on the Cardinals.
Houston is favored to win this game by (9.5) points and they play this game at home, where it gets very loud in NRG Stadium. This works very much against all Cardinals Running Backs.
I would bench both Knight and Carter this week as they project for very poor upsides in a very bad matchup.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.