Who Should I Start? Darnell Mooney or Christian Watson

Tuesday, March 12, 11:54 AM

Free-agent wide receiver Darnell Mooney is joining the Atlanta Falcons on a three-year $39 million deal, reported by NFL insider Ian Rapoport. The 2020 fifth-round pick out of Tulane posted 81 receptions for 1,055 yards and four touchdowns with Andy Dalton and a rookie Justin Fields as his primary quarterbacks in 2021, but he has not matched the production since. In 2022 and 2023 combined, he totaled 71 receptions for 907 yards and three touchdowns. However, he's now set to play with the best quarterback of his career, as Atlanta secured Kirk Cousins on a four-year deal on Monday. Mooney figures to be behind Drake London and Kyle Pitts in the target pecking order, but Cousins has supported up to three, and sometimes four, fantasy-relevant pass-catchers in a single season. Mooney is now on the fantasy radar and could hold flex value in 2024.

Tuesday, March 26, 10:44 PM

The Green Bay Packers feel that they have a better grasp of where wide receiver Christian Watson (hamstring) stands after he underwent a body scan at the University of Wisconsin-Madison this offseason with the hope of preventing future flare-ups. Watson has battled hamstring injuries in both of his two seasons in the NFL, with the 6-foot-4, 208-pounder missing eight games in 2023, playing just 446 offensive snaps. It hasn't just been hamstring injuries for the 24-year-old, and he's played in only 23 games in his first two seasons to quickly develop an injury-prone label. But when healthy, he's caught 69 of 119 targets for 1,033 yards and 12 touchdowns, adding two rushing scores. There's intriguing upside given the nature of Green Bay's improving offense under quarterback Jordan Love, but Watson's durability makes him a risk/reward fantasy selection heading into his third year.