2025 Fantasy Football RB Rankings: Christian McCaffrey Vs. Derrick Henry

Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffrey may be getting up there in age, but they are still both widely considered two of the best running backs in fantasy football. McCaffrey is currently being selected as the RB4 and 11th overall, while Derrick Henry is being selected as the RB6 and 14th overall in 0.5 PPR scoring formats. Based on their current ADP, we will let you know which one of these backs you want to walk away with in your fantasy drafts this season.

RB Derrick Henry, Baltimore Ravens

RB ADP: 6 OVR ADP: 14

The Case For Henry

While Henry is now 31 years old, he is an absolute monster. The 6'2, 250-pound rusher is physically an exception to all the rules most humans have to abide by. He's that once-in-a-generation athlete who is simply different and can't be compared to the normal examples when it comes to things like age cliffs and physical breakdowns. We are seeing the same thing in the NBA with a guy like LeBron James. These are special athletes.

Henry made the move to Baltimore last season and carried the ball a ridiculous 325 times for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns, while also adding 19 receptions for 193 yards and two TDs. He finished the season as the RB3 overall in 0.5 PPG format. Sharing a backfield with quarterback Lamar Jackson in the Ravens' run-heavy rushing attack almost looked unfair to watch. Baltimore's 554 carries were the second-most in the league behind only the Philadelphia Eagles, and there is no reason to expect that number to drop this season. We have seen both the Ravens and Henry do this year after year. After playing all 17 games last year and averaging 5.9 yards per carry, there is very little reason to anticipate a sudden physical decline in 2025.

The Case Against Henry

There is always age. We don't foresee a steep fall from the age cliff for Henry, but sometimes these things come fast. There is also the potential emergence of running back Keaton Mitchell. There is no chance that he simply overtakes Henry, but he's an extremely explosive young back who looked outstanding as a rookie in 2023 before suffering a knee injury that cost him almost all of 2024 as well. Henry didn't have to deal with him last season. Mitchell is a superior pass-catcher who averaged an eye-popping 8.4 yards per carry in eight games as a rookie. If he returns to form, he could be tough to keep off the field on both passing downs and in negative game scripts.

RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

RB ADP: 4 OVR ADP: 11

The Case for McCaffrey

We have all seen how great McCaffrey is when he's healthy. There is nothing he can't do. CMC is an elite pass-catcher, elite runner, and almost never comes off the field. No matter what the game script is, he fits it. With the exception of Jahmyr Gibbs, it's tough to argue that any other running back in the league has more upside than CMC when you consider both skill and situation. This is a swing for the fence pick who could easily be a league winner.

TRUE OR FALSE - Christian McCaffrey should be a Top 10 pick in redraft. pic.twitter.com/DIE7I9xf7l
— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) July 8, 2025

The Case Against McCaffrey

The concern with McCaffrey is and has always been the injuries that have plagued him throughout his career. Last year, he managed to play just four games, which marks the third time in six years that he failed to play in double-digit games. Only once since 2019 has he played in every game. Now he's coming off of a serious injury to his calf and Achilles as well as a PCL injury. These are massive red flags.

The Niners also now have a talented young back in Isaac Guerendo behind him, and you'd think that the team would want to limit CMC's usage to protect him, even if that's not what they've shown to do in the past. So either they cut his touches, which is bad, or they run him into the ground, which may be worse. It's also worth mentioning that his yards per carry dropped from 5.4 in 2023 to 4.0 in 2024, which was his worst mark since his rookie season in 2017. If you pick CMC, you have to understand the extreme risk that comes with his massive upside.

The Verdict

The pick here is Henry, and it's not even close. Henry is coming off a season when he looked better than ever in his new home in Baltimore, while CMC is recovering from multiple serious led injuries coming off his least efficient season since he was a rookie. The only argument you can make for CMC is in full PPR format, and even then, he's not worth the risk. To take it a step further, I'd be comfortable drafting Henry as the RB4 and letting CMC fall to the RB10. This one isn't all that close.