Who Should I Start? Michael Thomas or DeVonta Smith

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.

Saturday, December 13, 12:40 PM

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith is coming off of back-to-back weeks where his production didn't quite meet expectations. It's not due to a lack of looks-Smith is averaging nine targets per game since Week 12-the issue is more because of his yardage. Over the same three-game span, he's averaging just 6.4 yards per target. For comparison, his counterpart A.J. Brown has averaged 9.8 during that time. However, Smith does have a favorable matchup this Sunday against the Raiders. Las Vegas gives up the third-most fantasy points to wideouts this season, and the Eagles should have little trouble putting this team away in what feels like a must-win game. Smith isn't the most comfortable option for fantasy playoffs, but he's done enough to be slotted as a decent WR3/FLEX in Week 15.