Experimental Cheese: Projecting CJ Baxter Post Knee Injury

Experimental Cheese: Projecting CJ Baxter Post Knee Injury

A lot of things are cooking behind the scenes at Vendetta Sports Media. We’re already the best scouting system in the industry. By the time we’re done releasing all of these new products, I genuinely don’t believe we’ll ever miss an evaluation on a player ever again. Let’s call this one experimental cheese. What kind of player will CJ Baxter be post-knee injury?

Baxter, 19, was a former five star coming out of high school and was the number one running back recruit during the 2023 cycle. Baxter isn’t just a normal running back. He’s a twitched up 6-foot-1, 230, creative ball of hell.

We’ve also seen what knee injuries can do to running backs. Trust me, the author of this post you’re reading had Marcus Lattimore stashed on my fantasy team forever. I’ve seen heartbreaking injuries derail careers before.

I’m not a doctor. Let’s make something clear. There are so many variables that go into things. I have no idea if this chart consigliere put together is even accurate, but it feels accurate. It’s the same reason why you get a chicken pox vaccine. When you’re a kid, it’s not as damaging if you get it as an adult. If you have a tooth accident, much better to have it as a kid compared to when you have your real teeth.

We’ve seen this before. Nick Chubb had a bad knee injury in college. He had one again as an older pro, and it never looked like he could recover the same. Maybe there’s something to it.

Baxter doesn’t turn 20 until the end of June. Also, he’s had more than a year to recover from this injury. We’re not talking about a normal human. We’re talking about a freak who now has to overcome adversity. Maybe a talented guy like Baxter, this forces his to worker harder than he otherwise would have.

If you click the embed below, right now we have Baxter as RB3 in the way too early rankings. We’re also talking about a guy who doesn’t rely solely on short area quickness. There’s a power element to his game. Could this be the next Willis McGahee, who has a knee injury, but still carves out his own success story, even if it’s not as long as it could have otherwise been?

Way Too Early 2026 NFL Draft Running Back Rankings

Again, we’re still in the experimental phase with all this stuff we’re working on, but our goal is to be early. What kind of player will Baxter be in 2025 and moving forward? What if he’s 80% of his old self but his work ethic ramps up to where he otherwise would have been? That’s the hope. Only the Chinese Farmer knows for sure.

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