Who Should I Start? Chase Brown or Jaleel McLaughlin

Friday, January 2, 1:26 PM

Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown (illness) returned to practice on Friday and will play on Sunday in the Week 18 regular-season finale against the division-rival Cleveland Browns, according to Ben Baby of ESPN. Brown's availability for this weekend was in question after he missed the first two practices of the week due to illness. The 25-year-old will be ready to roll on Sunday, though, as he seeks the first 1,000-yard rushing season of his career. He heads into the final weekend of the regular season with 219 carries for 947 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground, adding a career-high 65 catches on 82 targets for 419 yards and four more touchdowns. Brown has been money for fantasy managers down the stretch and needs to remain in all starting lineups against Cleveland. In the season opener against the Browns, Brown had 21 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown.

Tuesday, December 30, 11:06 PM

Denver Broncos running back Jaleel McLaughlin has been more involved in Denver's offense since J.K. Dobbins suffered a season-ending foot injury, but it hasn't exactly given him legitimate standalone value in fantasy football. The 25-year-old had a season-high seven rushing attempts for a season-high 40 yards (5.7 yards per carry) in the Christmas Day win over the Kansas City Chiefs while playing a season-high 22% of the snaps. It was a bigger workload for McLaughlin, but rookie RJ Harvey still had double the carries for 43 yards and caught five of six targets for 33 yards and a touchdown in Week 17. Head coach Sean Payton is going to keep McLaughlin involved as the Broncos look to spark their ground game, but he's going to remain in a complementary role behind Harvey, who is the better all-around athlete. He'll be hard to trust as a flex option in Week 18 against the Chargers, even in deeper leagues.