Who Should I Start? Kendrick Bourne or Tyquan Thornton

Saturday, December 27, 4:41 AM

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Kendrick Bourne has seemingly regained his role as the team's third wide receiver after Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall (knee, ankle). Bourne had slipped behind Demarcus Robinson on the depth chart for a few weeks, but the former has outsnapped the latter in both of the 49ers' games coming out of their Week 14 bye. Bourne's involvement has been minimal, even after drawing a start last week while Pearsall was held out due to injuries. Pearsall is questionable for Week 17, as is tight end George Kittle (ankle), who is a game-time decision. Bourne's fantasy value rests on the availability of his teammates. Should both be shelved, then Bourne would have flex appeal against a soft Bears secondary, but if either or both are active, then it is hard to see Bourne eclipsing the five targets he saw last week.

Wednesday, December 24, 3:39 PM

The Kansas City Chiefs placed wide receiver Tyquan Thornton (concussion) on Injured Reserve on Wednesday, according to Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team. Both Thornton and fellow wideout Rashee Rice (concussion) will miss the final two games of the regular season due to head injuries. The 25-year-old Thornton had some fantasy relevance earlier this season with Xavier Worthy injured and Rice out due to a suspension, but once both pass-catchers returned, he fell down the depth chart as a hard-to-trust deep threat in KC's offense. The former second-rounder will finish his first year in Kansas City with 19 catches on 37 targets for a career-high 438 yards and three touchdowns in 14 games (four starts). Worthy and Marquise Brown will have more opportunities to close out the year, but expectations must be tempered for fantasy managers with third-string quarterback Chris Oladokun set to run KC's offense.