Emari Demercado

The Cardinals placed RB Bam Knight on IR with the ankle injury suffered in Sunday's loss to the Texans. He's the third Arizona RB to be lost for the season, following James Conner and Trey Benson. The backfield is now down to Michael Carter and Emari Demercado. Carter dominated work in Houston, tallying 14 carries and four targets to Demercado's one carry and three targets. We're expecting Demercado to be a bit more involved the rest of the way, but Carter is the far superior fantasy bet. And he gets nice matchups the next two weeks vs. the Falcons (19th vs. RBs) and Bengals (32nd).

Knight is expected to undergo an MRI on Monday to confirm the diagnosis, but the belief is that he did not break anything. Knight is highly unlikely to play in Week 16's game against the Falcons, and depending on the severity of his injury, it wouldn't be surprising if this proved to be season-ending. We'll check back in with an update when the team provides one, but an already thin Cardinals backfield could be looking at Emari Demercado and Michael Carter as it's top two options down the stretch.

Cardinals RB Bam Knight suffered a "bad" ankle sprain in Sunday's loss to the Texans, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Knight is undergoing an MRI to get a better look at the damage. But he's "unlikely" to play vs. the Falcons this weekend, per Schefter. And it seems like there's a chance he misses the rest of the season. Knight's absence will leave Michael Carter as Arizona's lead back, with Emari Demercado in a change-of-pace, pass-catching role. Carter will be a viable RB3 or Flex in Week 16 fantasy lineups.

Carter was nearly an every-down running back, playing 49-of-62 snaps after Zonovan Knight's early exit. Emari Demercado played just seven snaps behind him and didn't really look himself. Of course, it's possible that next week Demercado gets a larger share of the load as he -- in theory -- recovers more from his high-ankle sprain. Whoever totes the head of the Arizona role has some real RB3/FLEX fantasy equity against the Falcons next week, and Carter comes out of this week's game looking like he'll have the best shot at the role after Demercado's disappointing day.

He added two catches for ... zero yards, managing just seven snaps. It was disappointing that Demercado was a clear backup to Michael Carter, but it's possible the Cardinals wanted to bring him along slowly in his return from a high-ankle sprain. The Cardinals will never make this easy to understand, so Demercado is still a potential RB3/FLEX play against the Falcons next week despite this dud. We'd feel better starting him if we got some coach quotes about the injury limiting him ahead of next Sunday.