Who Should I Start? Hunter Henry or Khalil Shakir

Sunday, January 5, 12:04 PM

New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry (foot) has been ruled out for the Week 18 regular-season finale against the division-rival Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Henry was limited in practice all week but will end his 2024 season a week early. With the 30-year-old officially out against a Bills defense that will be taking it easy with the No. 2 seed already locked up for the playoffs, Austin Hooper could be a sneaky DFS play this weekend with a starting workload on tap. Henry will be back with New England next year after wrapping up his fourth season with the Pats. The former second-rounder by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2016 out of Arkansas finishes with a career-high 674 receiving yards on a career-high 66 receptions (97 targets), although he only found the end zone two times in 16 games, limiting his value as a low-end TE1 option on a weekly basis in fantasy.

Friday, January 24, 11:03 PM

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir is a top fantasy option heading into Sunday's AFC Championship against the Kansas City Chiefs. Shakir has been quite productive through two playoff games, catching 12 of his 13 targets for 128 yards through the air. While his next opponent, the Chiefs, are dominant on defense, they have a glaring weakness when defending slot receivers like Shakir. In fact, Kansas City allowed the fifth-most fantasy points to slot receivers from Weeks 12 through 17. That bodes incredibly well for Shakir, who logged the eighth-most slot snaps among all NFL receivers during the 2024 regular season. The 24-year-old is no stranger to having his way against Kansas City, either. When the Bills hosted the Chiefs back in Week 11, he converted 12 targets (a season-high) into eight receptions for 70 yards. Even without being a major touchdown threat, the third-year receiver is a top fantasy option given his usage within the Bills' offense and a very favorable matchup coming up. Fantasy managers and bettors should be excited about this week's outlook for Shakir, who is a strong candidate to lead the Bills in scrimmage yards.