Who Should I Start? Adam Thielen or Deebo Samuel

Saturday, July 13, 9:38 PM

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Adam Thielen feels he has more to prove to himself despite being in the NFL for over a decade. "I talk to the young guys about this all the time, is no matter who you are, no matter how old you are, no matter how many years you've been in the league, you have something to prove," Thielen said in an interview. "You have to have that mindset every single day." The 33-year-old is coming off a productive season, amassing his first 1,000-yard receiving campaign since 2018 while finding the end zone four times. Although the Panthers have a lot of question marks regarding the offense, it appears Thielen is not ready to stop being a reliable fantasy asset anytime soon.

Thursday, July 25, 2:24 PM

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. looked slimmer during spring drills than he had last year, and he appears to have lost even more weight for the start of training camp. "I think he looks great," head coach Kyle Shanahan said after the offense took its first snaps in 11-on-11 drills. "I thought he looked great in OTAs and minicamp. And I think he looks better today." The 49ers are practicing without two wideouts, Brandon Aiyuk and first-round pick Ricky Pearsall (hamstring), so Samuel's fantasy draft stock remains in a state of flux until a clearer picture emerges of how this receiving corps might look for the start of the regular season. The 28-year-old Pro Bowl wideout totaled 12 touchdowns in 15 appearances in 2023, placing second at his position in PPR fantasy points per route run (0.67) and first in fantasy points per target (2.74) over 89 targets, and he's being treated as a WR1 bet at his second-round ADP this summer.