Who Should I Start? Khalil Shakir or Quinn Ewers

Saturday, December 20, 10:40 AM

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir hauled in all five of his targets for 65 yards in the 35-31 win over the division rival New England Patriots. With struggling weapons in the Bills' receiving room, Shakir has retained his WR1 role in the offense, giving him fantasy value moving forward. Shakir has caught 62 passes for 650 yards and four touchdowns in 14 games this season, placing him as WR33. However, production may be hard to come by against this Browns secondary, which has given up the second-fewest receiving yards to wide receivers this season. They've also allowed only 6.4 fantasy points per game to slot receivers this season, which is where Shakir consistently lines up. Despite being the WR1 in this strong Bills offense, Shakir is a fade this week against this strong Browns secondary.

Friday, December 19, 6:29 PM

Miami Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers will be making his first NFL start this week, when his team hosts the Bengals on Sunday afternoon. Ewers was a seventh-round pick for the Dolphins out of Texas last season, and the 22-year-old will now get a chance to make his first NFL start. He played a few series in Cleveland earlier this season, completing five of his eight passes for 53 yards and taking a pair of sacks. He will have a favorable matchup against the Bengals, who have allowed the third-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. Ewers is likely playing for an increased opportunity next season, since the team seems ready to move on from Tua Tagovailoa, even though he signed a four-year, $212.4 million contract only last summer. Ewers has a favorable matchup, but he's so unproven that he's still only the No. 27 QB in this week's rankings, making him not a good option in all but the very deepest formats.