Who Should I Start? Michael Thomas or Christian Kirk

Wednesday, September 11, 8:40 PM

The National Football League on Wednesday announced that it has lifted the suspension of free-agent wide receiver Michael Thomas. Thomas was suspended for the first game of the 2024 NFL season for an incident with a construction worker near his home last year. The fact that the 31-year-old remained without a team all offseason is a sign that he may struggle to latch on with an organization despite the fact that he's past his one-game suspension. Just several years ago, Thomas was the best receiver in the league, but injuries have limited him to 20 games since the start of the 2020 campaign, and he played in just 10 games with the New Orleans Saints last year before a knee injury ended his season. He caught 39 passes for 448 yards and one touchdown in 2023. Thomas belongs on the waiver wire in all leagues and is unlikely to be on the fantasy radar in 2024.

Friday, March 14, 1:24 PM

The Houston Texans restructured the contract of new wide receiver Christian Kirk on Friday to lower his salary-cap figure for the 2025 season, league sources told KPRC's Aaron Wilson. Kirk was originally due a $15.5 million base salary that was converted into a $14 million signing bonus while lowering his base salary to the league minimum of $1.17 million. The move creates around $12 million in salary-cap savings for the Texans. Houston had already restructured the contracts for receiver Nico Collins and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, and they are expected to do more restructures to Denico Autry's and Danielle Hunter's contracts. The 28-year-old Kirk ended last year on Injured Reserve due to a broken collarbone but was acquired in a trade with the Jaguars to provide the Texans with a No. 2 wideout behind Nico Collins. With Tank Dell (knee) potentially missing all of 2025, Kirk has a clear path to WR3 value in fantasy in his new home if he's healthy.