Who Should I Start? Adam Thielen or Christian Kirk

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.

Friday, March 14, 1:24 PM

The Houston Texans restructured the contract of new wide receiver Christian Kirk on Friday to lower his salary-cap figure for the 2025 season, league sources told KPRC's Aaron Wilson. Kirk was originally due a $15.5 million base salary that was converted into a $14 million signing bonus while lowering his base salary to the league minimum of $1.17 million. The move creates around $12 million in salary-cap savings for the Texans. Houston had already restructured the contracts for receiver Nico Collins and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, and they are expected to do more restructures to Denico Autry's and Danielle Hunter's contracts. The 28-year-old Kirk ended last year on Injured Reserve due to a broken collarbone but was acquired in a trade with the Jaguars to provide the Texans with a No. 2 wideout behind Nico Collins. With Tank Dell (knee) potentially missing all of 2025, Kirk has a clear path to WR3 value in fantasy in his new home if he's healthy.