Who Should I Start? Terry McLaurin or Zay Flowers

Wednesday, September 10, 4:01 PM

Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin was slow out of the gate in Week 1 against the Giants, catching two of his four targets for 27 yards. A slow start to the season could have been somewhat expected for McLaurin after limited practice time amidst his contract negotiations. The talk of a slow start could have been mitigated if he and Jayden Daniels were able to connect on a deep shot where McLaurin had his man beat badly on a double move. With the new acquisition, Deebo Samuel Sr. making his team debut, play caller Kliff Kingsbury made an emphasis to get Samuel involved, and he has established a good connection with Daniels after McLaurin missed a lot of time in training camp. A positive, at least for McLaurin, is that he did not face any restrictions regarding his snap count and routes. The star receiver started slow last season as he built rapport with Daniels, and should be expected to bounce back against an exploitable Green Bay secondary. McLaurin has faced the Packers three times in his career and has put up strong numbers, catching 16 of 27 targets for 252 yards and three touchdowns. He should be viewed as a mid-range WR2 with upside in a projected high-scoring Week 2 matchup against the Packers.

Friday, September 12, 10:53 PM

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers put up the second-highest fantasy points of his career in the Week 1 loss to the Buffalo Bills. In half-PPR formats, that rates second to only his game against the Denver Broncos in Week 9 last season. Now, he'll try to carry that momentum into the first divisional matchup with the Cleveland Browns, who seem to have a lot of confidence. The speedy wideout didn't score in either of their meetings last season, in part due to their second matchup came in Week 18 when the Ravens rested a lot of starters. In Week 8 last year, Flowers finished as the WR17 against the Browns with seven receptions for 115 yards on 12 targets. He's hovering right around WR2 value again this week, but can always pop off into WR1 territory.