Who Should I Start? Cooper Kupp or Terry McLaurin

Friday, October 3, 7:56 PM

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp has entered the bench stash phase of his career. He is not a viable option in Week 5 when the Seahawks host the Buccaneers. The Buccaneers have an untested passing defense, but Kupp has been too inconsistent to this point in the season. Kupp has only surpassed 6.6 fantasy points one time this season. Additionally, the Seahawks' passing volume is low. Quarterback Sam Darnold is averaging 25 passing attempts per game, and 8.5 of those passes are going to wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Some of that has been due to game script. The offense has been relatively efficient, and the defense has been elite, resulting in a lower passing volume. If the Buccaneers' offense challenges Seattle in Week 5, the passing volume could increase. However, Kupp is too risky a player to deploy right now. He still has talent, but as of now, he is a better wide receiver for the Seahawks than he is for fantasy.

Monday, October 6, 6:40 PM

Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said the team is "optimistic" about getting wide receiver Terry McLaurin (quadriceps) back for their Week 6 tilt against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football, according to Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post. Fantasy managers have to be happy with this news, but they shouldn't get their hopes up that Scary Terry will be back this week after missing the last two games with a pretty serious quad injury that led him to seek multiple medical opinions. Quinn said the team will know more later in the week about McLaurin's status for next Monday night. The Commanders will officially resume practicing on Thursday, so fantasy managers will want to check back then to see if he's back on the practice field. When McLaurin returns, he and Deebo Samuel Sr. should dominate pass-game targets from quarterback Jayden Daniels.