Who Should I Start? Michael Thomas or Zay Flowers

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, 11:11 AM

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers finally returned to WR1 territory last week for the first time since his Week 1 outburst against the Buffalo Bills. Even though he finally broke the streak of non-WR1 finishes, he still hasn't found the end zone since the first game of the season. The encouraging part is that he received 11 targets against the Pittsburgh Steelers and hauled in eight of those for 124 yards. Their Week 15 opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals, have been a bit more stingy to opposing receivers in fantasy this year. The Bengals rank as the toughest defense against the position over the last four weeks, giving up an average of 15.13 fantasy points per game. The last time Flowers faced the Bengals in Week 13, he finished as the WR106. He projects as a low-end WR2 in this matchup, but it probably doesn't feel great for fantasy managers that need him.