Who Should I Start? Michael Thomas or Hunter Renfrow

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, May 2, 12:30 PM

New Carolina Panthers wide receiver Hunter Renfrow didn't play at all in 2024 after being released by the Las Vegas Raiders while being treated for ulcerative colitis, which caused him to drop from 185 pounds to 150 pounds. Renfrow had a stretch of seven straight days with a fever of 103 degrees, and the 29-year-old wondered if he'd ever play football again after disappointing seasons in both 2022 and 2023. He made the Pro Bowl in 2021 by catching a career-high 103 passes for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns but took a month off after the Pro Bowl because he felt "kind of tired." Renfrow signed a two-year, $32 million deal the next offseason, right before he started feeling really bad. The good news is he's back up to 185 pounds and will try to provide receiving depth in Carolina behind Xavier Legette, Adam Thielen and rookie first-rounder Tetairoa McMillan in 2025.