Who Should I Start? Adam Thielen or Rashid Shaheed

Wednesday, August 27, 10:17 AM

The Minnesota Vikings are trading for their own former star wide receiver, Adam Thielen, Ian Rapoport reports. Carolina receives a 2026 fifth-round pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick, and Minnesota gets Thielen, a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick, and a 2027 fifth-round pick. Thielen gets to return home, as not only did he spend nine years with the Vikings from 2014 to 2022, but he is also from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and attended Minnesota State University, Mankato. Although at 35 years old and perhaps a few steps slower than he was a handful of years ago, Thielen still produced at a reasonably high level in 2023 and 2024, where he had 615 receiving yards and five touchdowns on 48 receptions in 2024 and 1,015 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 103 receptions in 2023. Thielen will join a somewhat depleted receiver room with Jordan Addison suspended for the first three games, Rondale Moore out for the season (knee), Tai Felton (arm), and Jalen Nailor (hand). Thielen should produce early on, and his fantasy value is expected to increase with the move to a more explosive offense. Thielen also played alongside Justin Jefferson from 2020 to 2022 and scored 30 touchdowns during those three seasons.

Wednesday, July 30, 11:10 AM

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Rashid Shaheed is playing through physical coverage in training camp practices so far, according to Jeff Nowak of Audacy Sports. Nowak notes that this has been a clear area of improvement for the fourth-year receiver since he entered the league in 2022. Once known exclusively as a downfield deep-ball threat, Shaheed was showing signs of becoming a more complete receiver in 2024 before tearing his meniscus in Week 6 and missing the remainder of the season. In the six games he played, Shaheed caught 20 passes for 349 yards and three touchdowns, averaging an impressive 2.25 yards-per-route-run. The Saints' question marks at quarterback hold down his fantasy value, but Shaheed is an intriguing late-round dart throw who could be on the verge of a breakout in his age-27 season.