Who Should I Start? David Montgomery or Rashid Shaheed

Thursday, December 25, 3:30 PM

Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (illness) will be active for Thursday's road bout with the Minnesota Vikings on Christmas Day, per the team. The veteran appeared on Detroit's practice report on Tuesday, missing the session due to illness. After logging a limited practice on Wednesday, it would seem Montgomery will be able to play anyway, and figures to assume his typical allotment of snaps behind teammate Jahmyr Gibbs as the Lions attempt to keep their playoff hopes alive. Notably, the seventh-year pro has seen his snap count steadily dwindle since Week 11, dropping under 20 plays in each of his last three appearances, compared with just once over the season's first 13 weeks. Correlatively, he'll offer little more than flex appeal with Gibbs dominating time and touches in the backfield.

Tuesday, December 30, 10:57 PM

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver/kick returner Rashid Shaheed (concussion) was listed as limited in Tuesday's practice session, according to Josh Dubow of The Associated Press. Shaheed is in the league's concussion protocol after suffering a concussion in the first quarter of Sunday's win over the Carolina Panthers. It's good news that the 27-year-old wideout was on the field on Tuesday, but he has some boxes to check before he can get cleared before Saturday night's big divisional matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. If Shaheed doesn't get cleared to play in the Week 18 regular-season finale, it would open up Cooper Kupp, Jake Bobo, Dareke Young, and AJ Barner for more targets in the passing game. When healthy, Shaheed is a boom/bust deep threat for Seattle, who has been hard to trust as a WR4/flex in fantasy. In his eight games with Seattle, he has 14 receptions on 25 targets for 186 yards and no touchdowns.