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Michael Carter Week 16 Fantasy Outlook: Must-Start as Lead RB?

December 20, 2025 No Comments

Michael Carter was the top priority RB on the Week 16 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire. Now that you have him, is Carter a Must-Start vs. the Falcons?

Let’s dive into Michael Carter’s Week 16 Fantasy Football Outlook to see if he should be in your line-up.

Cardinals Running Backs in 2025: A Fantasy Nightmare?

Granted, just the thought of this Cardinals backfield might make you puke. Across decades of playing fantasy football, I’m not sure I’ve encountered a more hellish or volatile collection of mediocre-to-awful backs playing whack-a-mole for weekly viability.

Since James Conner went down, we’ve had a rotating carousel of Trey Benson, Emari Demercado, Bam Knight, and Michael Carter. While it’s been frustrating to project the lead guy each, most weeks have featured a Cardinals’ RB within the Top-20 RBs. Here’s the lead-scoring RB since Week 4:

  • Trey Benson: 10.4 FPs (RB33)
  • Michael Carter: 18.3 (RB9)
  • Bam Knight: 12.5 (RB15)
  • Bam Knight: 9.4 (RB23)
  • Emari Demercado: 8.8 (RB26)
  • Emari Demercado: 13.4 (RB19)
  • Bam Knight: 14.5 (RB18)
  • Bam Knight: 13.2 (RB16)
  • Bam Knight: 16.8 (RB14)
  • Bam Knight: 6.4 (RB40)
  • Michael Carter: 13.4 (RB19)

Yes, it’s been an ugly rotation. Indeed, all these backs stink. Even still, a Cardinals RB has finished as a startable fantasy asset (Top-24 RB) and topped 10+ PPR FPs in eight-of-11 games without Conner.

Essentially, if we know who the starter is, we can bank on middling RB2 production — no more, not much less either.

Thankfully, that is abundantly clear in Week 16 Fantasy Football.

Michael Carter Confirmed Week 16 Starter: A Must-Start in Fantasy too?

At least this week, we won’t have to wonder who the Cardinals’ starting RB will be: Michael Carter has been given the official nod.

Bam Knight suffered “a bad ankle sprain” that required him to be carted off. He has since been moved to the IR and will be done for the remainder of 2025.

Not only will Carter start, but true workhorse volume is certainly possible. Gannon said he is “very comfortable” with Carter as the lead back, noting he hopes for “more explosives.” He praised Carter for helping the team’s efficiency.

In Knight’s absence last week, Carter monopolized the backfield, playing 79% of the snaps, 78% of the RB Rush attempts, and running a healthy 72% of the routes. He ultimately posted 18 touches (4 catches) and 94 YFS, good for 13.4 PPR FPs & an RB19 finish.

Per PFF’s Nathan Jahnke’s Immediate Takeaways column, it’s clear Carter was the absolute focal point of the backfield last week:

While 13.4 FPs isn’t otherworldly, this came against the vaunted Texans’ defense. In that light, a Top-20 FPs day is actually fairly impressive.

We’ve only seen one other game with Carter seeing above 65% of the rushes. This happened in Week 5, following Trey Benson‘s injury. During this game, Carter posted 23 touches (5 receptions), 73 YFS, and 1 TD — good for 18.3 PPR FPs and an RB9 finish.

Granted, despite that solid fantasy finish in Week 5, Carter was extremely inefficient with his work. Immediately, he was phased out in favor of Knight.

Additionally, Emari Demercado has been recovering from an ankle sprain of his own, and shouldered just 11% of the snaps in his Week 15 return. It’s very likely Demercado will see his workload ramped up. If I were to bet on just talent, Demercado would be the pick, as he’s looked explosive and efficient whenever given the opportunity. His career 6.57 YPC highlights this.

Yet, Carter’s Week 15 monopolization cannot be overlooked. The. Cardinals also rank fourth in the NFL in plays per game (65.1), and Carter should be in for 60% of those. That volume alone makes him starter-worthy.

Best of all, Carter and the Cardinal’s RB schedule is soft for these final two weeks. First, he dances with the Falcons, who surrender the 14th most FPs (21 Half PPR FPPG).

If Carter does enough to propel you to your championship, he’ll be squaring off with the Bengals in Week 17, who give up THE MOST FPs to RBs in the league (28.3 Half PPR FPPG). Carter would legit have low-end RB1 upside if he’s seeing 65-70% of the work in this matchup.

Ultimately, I do worry a tad about Demercado coming in for more work in Week 16. He is the more efficient of the two, and if the Cardinals are trailing by a healthy amount, Demercado might even see more snaps as the lead pass-catching RB here.

Still, this is just a 3 points spread, implying a close-enough game between these two floundering teams. As such, Carter ranks as the RB25 in my Week 16 Fantasy Football Rankings. He feels like a safe bet for 10-15 FPs — no more, no less. For many of us walking wounded, that’s exactly what we need at RB2 or Flex this week.