Who Should I Start? Rashid Shaheed or Brian Thomas Jr.

Saturday, October 5, 6:45 AM

The New Orleans Saints' tendency to run 12 personnel concentrates their passing attack on wide receivers Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave. Shaheed owns a 25.5% target share as a result and, leaving out the egg he laid in Week 3, he is averaging 18.3 PPR points per game in 2024. In Week 5, the Saints head to Kansas City to face the Chiefs on Monday night. The Chiefs have done well to limit opposing wide receivers' production in 2024, holding them collectively to 113 yards per game. Still, Shaheed has shown several times over that his ability to break a big play and the Saints will likely need to look to him again to have a shot at getting past Kansas City. There may be additional work for him as the other main weapons in the Saints' offense, Olave (hamstring) and Alvin Kamara (hip/ribs) both popped up on the team's injury report this week. Shaheed's long touchdown potential keeps him in the WR3 range for Week 5 and he can have a slight boost in value in leagues that award points for return yards.

Saturday, October 5, 1:31 AM

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. has a great opportunity to reach even greater heights in Week 5 against the Indianapolis Colts. BTJ had six catches for 86 yards and a touchdown last week against the Houston Texans, and the Colts should be an easier matchup for the rookie. The Jaguars offense looked horrible to start the year but has slowly looked better as the year has progressed. Trevor Lawrence looked better last week, and was able to get both Christian Kirk and BTJ involved a lot in the passing game. Despite the team's early struggles, the first-round pick has exceeded expectations of fantasy managers so far and has not started slowly like many rookie receivers do. Evan Engram may return from injury this week providing more competition for targets, but that should more affect BTJ's red-zone usage, which hasn't been much as is. BTJ should continue to show off his speed and route-running against the Colts, making him a great flex play with WR2 upside.