Who Should I Start? Brandon Aiyuk or Darnell Mooney

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.

Friday, December 20, 10:30 PM

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney picked a terrible time to have his worst outing of the season, recording zero catches on one target against a depleted Raiders defense. The 27-year-old posted a one-catch performance back in Week 1, but averaged almost five catches per contest from Week 2-14. Now, with confidence shaken combined with a rookie quarterback making his first start, fantasy managers who survived Week 15's debacle must decide whether or not to use Mooney in Week 16. The lack of success last week should probably be attributed to Kirk Cousins more than Mooney, however. Still, even though the Falcons are nine-point favorites on Sunday versus the Giants, Atlanta is likely to deploy a heavy dose of Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier against a defense that has yielded the fourth-most fantasy points to running backs on the season. If the Falcons do need to ask Michael Penix Jr. to throw, then the receivers should see some success, as New York allows the third-highest completion rate to QBs and has only intercepted a pass twice on the entire year. All that being said, Mooney looks like a shaky WR3 in the fantasy playoffs this Sunday.