Who Should I Start? Darnell Mooney or Tyler Shough

Friday, May 30, 11:44 AM

The Atlanta Falcons plan to target wide receiver Darnell Mooney more often during the 2025 season, according to wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard. "We're going to lean on him a lot more than we did last year and see where that goes," Hilliard said. Mooney impressed during his first campaign as a Falcon last year, catching 64 passes for 992 yards and five touchdowns through 16 games. He was the overall WR31 in PPR leagues despite missing the season's final contest with a shoulder injury. Mooney said he performed well on deep routes last year, and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. acknowledged how difficult he is to cover one-on-one. Operating alongside another talented receiver in Drake London, Mooney currently ranks as RotoBaller's WR48 in redraft leagues. That puts him ahead of players like Cooper Kupp, Stefon Diggs, and Matthew Golden.

Thursday, June 26, 2:37 PM

New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough was selected in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and veteran signal-caller Derek Carr (shoulder) announced his retirement shortly after. This leaves Shough as the favorite to win the QB1 job in his rookie season, though he is competing with sophomore Spencer Rattler. After a long college football career full of adversity, Shough is ready for the growing pains and downs of his first year in the NFL. "I think for me and what I've been through: I've been carted off the field, I've been booed, I've been an MVP, I've been a starter, I've been a backup to [Justin] Herbert," Shough said. "You're not going to faze me if we start off 0-2 or I suck. It's going to be fine." The former Oregon Duck, Texas Tech Red Raider, and Louisville Cardinal acknowledge that while he's an older first-year player, he's still a rookie who will have to learn. Even if Shough pans out, he likely won't be a fantasy football contributor in single-QB leagues this season since he does not have much of a rushing skill set. That said, he could be a QB2 sleeper for Superflex and two-QB leagues while throwing passes to Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Alvin Kamara, Juwan Johnson, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.