Who Should I Start? Tyler Shough or Rashee Rice

Thursday, June 26, 2:37 PM

New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough was selected in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and veteran signal-caller Derek Carr (shoulder) announced his retirement shortly after. This leaves Shough as the favorite to win the QB1 job in his rookie season, though he is competing with sophomore Spencer Rattler. After a long college football career full of adversity, Shough is ready for the growing pains and downs of his first year in the NFL. "I think for me and what I've been through: I've been carted off the field, I've been booed, I've been an MVP, I've been a starter, I've been a backup to [Justin] Herbert," Shough said. "You're not going to faze me if we start off 0-2 or I suck. It's going to be fine." The former Oregon Duck, Texas Tech Red Raider, and Louisville Cardinal acknowledge that while he's an older first-year player, he's still a rookie who will have to learn. Even if Shough pans out, he likely won't be a fantasy football contributor in single-QB leagues this season since he does not have much of a rushing skill set. That said, he could be a QB2 sleeper for Superflex and two-QB leagues while throwing passes to Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Alvin Kamara, Juwan Johnson, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

Thursday, June 19, 12:05 PM

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said that he expects both wide receiver Rashee Rice (knee) and offensive tackle Josh Simmons (knee) to be full participants at the start of training camp at the end of July. Rice played in only four games last year before suffering a season-ending LCL tear. The injury is behind the 25-year-old, though, and he'll be ready to rock for Week 1 of the 2025 regular season this September after he was a full participant in OTAs and minicamp this spring. Before his injury last year, Rice was the clear WR1 for quarterback Patrick Mahomes and had 24 catches for 288 yards and three touchdowns in the first three games. However, he has a possible suspension hanging over his head for a hit-and-run incident in March of last year, which makes him more of a high-end WR3 target in fantasy drafts this fall.