Who Should I Start? Sterling Shepard or Curtis Samuel

Tuesday, June 30, 9:49 AM

The Athletic's Nicki Jhabvala is intrigued by the prospect of the Washington Commanders adding veteran free-agent wide receiver Curtis Samuel before the start of training camp this summer. It's obvious that Washington needs WR depth behind WR1 Terry McLaurin, which is why they've been heavily linked to San Francisco 49ers disgruntled wideout Brandon Aiyuk (knee) all offseason. The risk with Samuel is his durability, as he's dealt with a string of injuries throughout his NFL career and has been active for only two full seasons in his nine years in the league. But the 29-year-old is still a free agent after the Buffalo Bills released him in March, and he's reportedly fully healthy. Samuel played in D.C. from 2021 through 2023, is close with McLaurin, and is familiar with WRs coach Bobby Engram. Samuel isn't exactly an ideal WR2, but he's versatile and has nine years of NFL experience. He played in just six games for Buffalo last year and caught seven of his nine targets for 81 yards and one touchdown, and he had just one TD in 14 games (two starts) the year before with the Bills.