Who Should I Start? Brandon Aiyuk or Darnell Mooney

Friday, October 11, 3:44 AM

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk fell back into his early-season fantasy slump during a 36-24 victory over the Seahawks in Seattle. He finished with two catches on four targets for 37 yards, and one other reception -- for a good chunk of yardage -- called back on a holding penalty. He is still searching for his first touchdown of 2024. Coming into the game as a consensus WR1, Aiyuk has now come in under projections in five of six contests. Quarterback Brock Purdy spread the ball around in this one, as Deebo Samuel Sr., George Kittle, and Jauan Jennings had six, five, and five targets respectively. With Aiyuk's underperformance stretching into October, Jennings' out-targeting of Aiyuk in the past three of four weeks should be acknowledged -- still, sell-low at your own risk. Aiyuk is fully capable of burning impatient fantasy players. San Francisco will need Aiyuk in a Week 7 Super Bowl LVIII rematch at home against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Thursday, October 10, 6:47 PM

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney (knee) put in a limited practice on Thursday for the second straight day this week. If Mooney doesn't upgrade to a full practice on Friday, he could be listed on the Week 6 injury report as questionable to play this Sunday against the division-rival Carolina Panthers. However, there doesn't appear to be too much worry that the 26-year-old is in danger of missing this weekend's game after he went off for nine catches, 105 yards and two touchdowns in the Thursday night win over the division-rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. Mooney has surprisingly been the WR15 in half-PPR scoring through five weeks with 24 catches for 330 yards and three touchdowns. With quarterback Kirk Cousins now looking more comfortable in this offense, Mooney's fantasy stock is on the rise and he should be considered an attractive WR2/3 in Week 6 against Carolina.