Two weeks prior, I wrote about "The Top 5 Players Who Might Not Be Ready for Week 1" which examined players with injuries that could carry over into the next season. Following the Super Bowl, I have returned to complete this list of player injuries. In fantasy football, there is no such thing as the offseason. It's time to prepare for 2025.
Key: Position Player, Team | Injury
WR Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco | ACL Reconstruction with MCL
In the previous article, I discussed ACL Reconstruction (ACLR) recovery timelines a lot - specifically for NFL wide receivers and running backs. On average, wide receivers return to play at 48 weeks from their surgery date.
49ers' wideout Brandon Aiyuk tore his ACL in Week 7 on October 20th. However, because Aiyuk's MCL was also involved, his surgery date was delayed till November 11th. As a result, Week 1 of the 2025 season would put Aiyuik at ~43 weeks post-op. Given the multiple ligaments involved and this recovery timeline, I believe the Aiyuk is a candidate to start the 2025 season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
In terms of fantasy production, I do like Aiyuk's 2025 outlook. Players with a similar archetype to Aiyuk have historically done well. Even with missed time, Aiyuk could be a value in fantasy drafts next year.
WR Rashee Rice, Kansas City | LCL Reconstruction
Rashee Rice's 2024 knee injury was of the unconventional variant. Rice tore his LCL without tearing his ACL.
The good news regarding Rice's injury is that, barring any setbacks or suspension following his driving incident last spring, he should be ready for Week 1 of the 2025 season.
The bad news is that because Rice's injury is uncommon, projecting his fantasy production is difficult. Looking at more recent examples of players returning following LCL surgery, Kyle Pitts and Javonte Williams (albeit with an ACLR) struggled to return to form following surgery. I am not completely writing Rice off, but the sophomore wide receiver got off to a blazing start in 2024, so it will be interesting to see where his 2025 ADP settles. There are enough question marks that drafting Rice at his ceiling outcome does not seem advisable.
RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco | Achilles Tendinitis / PCL Sprain
Having Christian McCaffrey on this list is a bit misleading. McCaffrey should easily be ready for the 2025 season. However, after a disappointing 2024, I wanted to discuss the stud running back more in-depth.
Heading into this last season, I still had McCaffrey ranked within the first round as I did not fully buy into this Achilles tendonitis being a significant limitation. Like most, they blew up in my face. Upon McCaffrey's return, he appeared to be the RB1 we all drafted. Unfortunately, his time on the field was brief. McCaffrey's 2024 season ended following a PCL sprain.
It's been a rollercoaster four seasons for the San Francisco running back. Following injury-riddled seasons in 2020 and 21, McCaffrey ripped off the RB2 and RB1 overall seasons in 2022 and 23, respectively. While some are signaling the end, I think there is still some meat on the bone.
In 2022, I accumulated data on NFL running backs from 2016 to 2021 to examine the age cliff/apex (the age at which a player drastically declines) for different styles of backs. What I found was mostly intuitive: Good players are better for longer periods (genius stuff, I know).
Drilling down to specifics, I found that backs like Christian McCaffrey, who are heavily involved in the receiving game (labeled "All_Purpose" in the graph below), historically experience a more gradual decline and have a much higher fantasy point ceiling in that decline.
Maybe McCaffrey's RB1 workload is behind him. Jordan Mason and Isaac Guerendo flashed in Kyle Shanahan's system and could eat into McCaffrey's touches. But even at age 28, McCaffrey's skill set as a receiver suggests that there is still some juice left to squeeze...or whatever analogy you prefer.
If your player was not mentioned in this article, let Adam know. Tag him at @TheRealAdam_H on X or @adamhutchison.bsky.social. He could write about these players in future articles.
