Who Should I Start? Kevin Austin Jr. or Maurice Alexander

Sunday, January 4, 8:27 AM

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. is expected to have an expanded role in Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons. The Saints will be without Chris Olave (illness) and Mason Tipton (groin) for the regular-season finale. The absence of those players should push Austin into the No. 1 wideout role in this offense. With all the injuries to the Saints' wideouts, Dante Pettis should also see an increase in target share on Sunday. Austin made himself known to the league when he hauled in four receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown in Week 17's win over the Tennessee Titans. Austin was able to do that with Olave healthy for that game, which means he should be able to produce more without him this weekend. Fantasy managers with something on the line this week can use Austin as a FLEX play, or in DFS contests, might want to target Austin as he's priced at only $3,400 on DraftKings.

Friday, January 31, 10:48 PM

The Chicago Bears signed free-agent wide receiver Maurice Alexander to a Reserve/Futures deal on Friday, according to KPRC's Aaron Wilson. New head coach Ben Johnson is poaching Alexander from the Detroit Lions after the 28-year-old spent the last three years in Detroit. The former undrafted free agent out of Florida International has only appeared in four NFL games, though, with all of them coming back in 2022. In his four games for the Lions, he caught his only target for a gain of seven yards. Alexander will head to Chicago with a firm grasp of Johnson's offensive concepts, although he will still be a long shot to make the 53-man active roster to begin the 2025 season out of training camp. He will most likely stick on Chicago's practice squad next season.