Who Should I Start? Brandon Aiyuk or Amon-Ra St. Brown

Friday, November 15, 7:10 PM

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (knee) had surgery on his right knee earlier this week to fix a torn ACL and other damage. In addition to tearing his ACL, Aiyuk also tore his MCL in the Week 7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and will miss the rest of the season. He should have already been dropped in single-season fantasy leagues. It remains to be seen if the 26-year-old will make enough progress in his rehab in the offseason in order to be ready to play in Week 1 of the 2025 regular season next fall. For the rest of 2024, receivers Deebo Samuel Sr. and Jauan Jennings and tight end George Kittle should be the most-targeted pass-catchers, with rookie first-rounder Ricky Pearsall also seeing an expanded role in the passing attack. Aiyuk was an absolute fantasy bust this year, finishing with 25 catches for 374 yards and no touchdowns in seven games.

Monday, January 6, 12:59 AM

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown caught six of his seven targets for 77 yards during Sunday's Week 18 win over the Minnesota Vikings. St. Brown had been riding a three-game touchdown streak, so fantasy managers will be understandably disappointed he didn't find the end zone on Sunday night despite leading the Lions in receiving yards. He finished the regular season as the overall WR3 in PPR leagues, and he was just 1.3 points behind the No. 2 wide receiver, Justin Jefferson. All in all, it was an impressive year for the 25-year-old, who totaled double-digit touchdowns for the second year in a row and set a career-high for number of visits to the end zone. Even with the Lions' offense placing attention on Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta, Jahmyr Gibbs, and David Montgomery, fantasy managers were able to enjoy the fact that St. Brown carved out an enormous role for himself and delivered a terrific season once again, playing in all 17 games. He should be a mid-first-round pick in 2025 fantasy drafts, and managers could absolutely justify making him the second wide receiver off the board after Ja'Marr Chase.