Who Should I Start? Andrei Iosivas or Justin Shorter

Saturday, December 21, 12:51 PM

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Andrei Iosivas does have a career-high five touchdowns in 2024 and resides in one of the best passing offenses in the NFL, but he's still not a viable flex play for fantasy managers looking to advance to championship matchups in Week 16. We would recommend ignoring him in starting fantasy lineups for a divisional tilt on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. In the first meeting with Cleveland on Oct. 20, Iosivas put up a donut (he did so the following week as well). The 25-year-old just isn't seeing enough volume (51 targets on the year) behind target hogs Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. When you factor in tight end Mike Gesicki, Iosivas is quarterback Joe Burrow's No. 4 target, at best. In the last five weeks, Iosivas has been outside the top-50 wideouts with 11 catches, 127 yards and one touchdown on 16 targets. There's minimal upside here and a scary-low floor.

Saturday, August 24, 7:49 PM

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Justin Shorter caught two of his three targets for 15 yards in Saturday afternoon's preseason loss to the visiting Carolina Panthers at Highmark Stadium. Shorter's long gain of the day came on a 10-yard reception in Saturday's defeat to the Panthers. The 24-year-old wideout was a fifth-round pick out of Florida by the Bills in the 2023 NFL Draft, but he didn't see the field in any capacity during his rookie season in Orchard Park a year ago. Shorter still has a chance to make Buffalo's final 53-man roster as depth for the receiving corps, but he'll probably end up being a healthy inactive on gamedays more often than not while the team is healthy.