Who Should I Start? Adam Thielen or Cedric Tillman

Friday, May 2, 12:02 PM

Carolina Panthers veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen said that he talked with his family, and they wanted him to play in 2025. He plans to go through a similar process after this season, which is the final year of his contract. Depending on how the 34-year-old feels and what his family thinks after the 2025 campaign, Thielen could hang up his cleats and retire. He's returning for a third season in Carolina after playing in a career-low 10 games in 2024 due to a hamstring injury. In those 10 games, he caught 48 of his 62 targets for 615 yards and five touchdowns. He should continue to be a trusted weapon for young quarterback Bryce Young out of the slot this year, but the addition of first-round rookie wideout Tetairoa McMillan will surely make Thielen harder to trust as a WR3/flex in fantasy based on volume alone like he was in 2023, when he recorded the third 1,000-yard season of his career on 103 targets.

Saturday, June 28, 11:22 AM

The Athletic's Zac Jackson writes that the Cleveland Browns are banking on wide receiver Cedric Tillman building on his big stretch in the middle of last season since they didn't draft a receiver and only added Diontae Johnson in free agency. Jackson adds that Tillman should be in for a full-time role in 2025 and could complement WR1 Jerry Jeudy in an offense that could incorporate a lot of deep passes if veteran Joe Flacco wins the quarterback job. The advantage that Tillman has is his size (6-foot-3, 215 pounds), and he scored his first three NFL touchdowns in October and November of last year. Although he missed the last six games of 2024 with a concussion, he's still viewed as an ascending player and has two years left on his rookie deal. Even with more opportunity, Tillman will likely be viewed as a WR5/6 target in deeper fantasy formats for receiver depth.