Who Should I Start? DeAndre Hopkins or Ladd McConkey

Saturday, September 13, 7:47 AM

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins proved why he's a three-time All-Pro with an amazing one-handed grab against the Buffalo Bills for a touchdown. While his days of 100+ targets per season are in the rearview mirror, he can still play that outlet role whenever called upon. The biggest issue for fantasy managers is that it's nearly impossible to predict which games he'll be more involved in compared to the others. In Week 2, he'll go up against the Cleveland Browns, who do have a better and more aggressive defensive unit. Hopkins might be viable in very deep leagues, but he likely won't receive more targets than Mark Andrews again, which would leave him around fourth in the target pecking order. So managers in 12-team leagues can safely leave him on the bench.

Wednesday, September 17, 6:20 PM

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Ladd McConkey (biceps) is on the Week 3 injury report and was listed as a non-participant at Wednesday's practice. It could help explain why McConkey wasn't all that involved in the Monday night win over the Las Vegas Raiders, when he caught all five of his targets for 48 yards. In the season-opening win over the Kansas City Chiefs, the second-year pass-catcher caught six of nine targets for 74 yards. McConkey is a must-start each week in fantasy lineups if he's active, especially with quarterback Justin Herbert looking strong early in 2025, but his status will be worth monitoring going into Sunday's divisional tilt in Week 3 against the Denver Broncos. If McConkey is unable to play this weekend, Keenan Allen and Quentin Johnston will both draw more targets, as will rookie Tre' Harris. The return of Allen and the emergence of Johnston, who has three touchdowns in two games, has certainly lowered McConkey's fantasy ceiling so far.