After Week 1, we couldn’t have two teams going in a more different direction than the Carolina Panthers and the New Orleans Saints, and we have two wide receivers who play very different styles on each team.
Diontae Johnson joined the Panthers to soak up targets and give the team someone who can separate and help Bryce Young grow, while Rashid Shaheed can pop the top on the defense and get behind the safeties for a big play in the game. The issue is Carolina’s WR1 was outproduced by Shaheed, which has fantasy football managers concerned about who to start between the two wide receivers.
Let’s examine the opportunities and critical insights needed to help us choose which player will elevate our lineup in Week 2.
Which WR Should You Choose From Diontae Johnson and Rashid Shaheed in Week 2?
In the Pro Football Network Start/Sit Optimizer, PFN’s Consensus Rankings say Johnson is the player to start. Our rankings disagree as we rank Shaheed higher for Week 2. The Saints and Dallas Cowboys game has a 46.5 implied point total, while the Los Angeles Chargers and Panthers are slated for 39.5.
Whenever we see a game under a 40-point total, we avoid it like the fantasy football plague it is; let’s move to Shaheed and allow the big-play ability to elevate our roster in Week 2.
Johnson’s Fantasy Outlook This Week
We start with Johnson, who, like the rest of the Panthers, could not get started in Week 1. Although Johnson had six targets, he could only bring two in for receptions and gained only 19 yards. TruMedia lists Johnson’s 2.0 yards after catch per reception as the 111th-best in the NFL after Week 1.
Johnson’s 9.5 yards per reception were worse than 74 other receivers. The Panthers’ offense and Young didn’t utilize Johnson deep down the field as his 10.5 air yards per target was only the 38th best in the NFL.
The issue with Johnson is the offense he plays in. As long as the Panthers and second-year quarterback Young struggle, you will never see a game in which Johnson should be in your starting lineup. For where we had to draft Johnson, this is turmoil we do not need to start the season.
Shaheed’s Fantasy Outlook This Week
Thankfully, Shaheed helps elevate our wide receiver core on our fantasy football team and makes us realize we may have hit on a late-round sleeper. Shaheed only ran 19 routes last week, which was 130th overall. It didn’t matter, though, as he saw five targets and created a solid stat line of three receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown. His big-play ability again came in clutch as his 59-yard catch was the seventh longest in Week 1.
Like this route by Rashid Shaheed on the TD. Run at 8's outside hip, then break towards the green. Safety has to help on the cross and there's nobody there pic.twitter.com/EBqM2U1TqP
— JP Acosta (@acosta32_jp) September 11, 2024
Shaheed brings big-play pop and boom potential to your fantasy lineup every week. With the Saints’ newfound love of motion, Shaheed can create separation from the hike, putting defenders in a bind from the beginning of the play. Shaheed logged the second-most WR snaps on the Saints with 45, which means he has moved from gadget play to a true asset in the offense.
Kyle Soppe’s Fantasy Outlook for Johnson and Shaheed
Diontae Johnson: Johnson is East Coast McConkey. That’s not meant to be disrespectful to the veteran — I view his skill set as superior, but he’s facing an uphill battle when it comes to the quarterback situation.
Johnson ran two fewer routes but earned two more targets than Adam Thielen in his Carolina debut. That has me firm in my belief that he’s the WR1 in the Panthers’ offense. Of course, the value of that title is very much a question.
Six times. In just six games last season a Panthers receiver reached 10 PPR fantasy points. There isn’t nearly enough juice to squeeze from this offense in any capacity at the moment. I’m open to the idea of this unit improving with time and maybe, maybe, landing Johnson on PPR Flex radars with time.
But not right now. There are 31 other offenses you can invest in, and I’d recommend you take that approach. Just one-third of Johnson’s snaps came in the slot last season, a further complicating factor in his floor case (Thielen: 69% slot) as those are where even the bad offenses can be efficient.
Canales’ résumé requires us to keep Johnson rostered from a process standpoint, but I’d be lying if I said that I’m doing so with much confidence.
Rashid Shaheed: Déjà vu.
Shaheed scored north of 16 PPR fantasy points on Sunday, something that we saw happen to kick off last season as well. He, however, then went without a touchdown for a month and went two months until he had a five-catch game.
I’ve been early to the Shaheed part for the better part of two years now, and while I’m not jumping off, I’m not getting in front of my skis like I did last season after the fast start. I loved seeing him score from 59 yards out on New Orleans’ fifth play of this season, and he did excel in the hidden-yardage department by forcing a 31-yard DPI.
He’s a talented field stretcher capable of breaking any slate, but until we see more consistency on the target-earning side of things, I can’t get him inside my top 30 at the position. This week, I have him ranked just behind Brian Thomas Jr. (vs. Cleveland) and ahead of popular waiver wire add Demarcus Robinson (at Arizona).
He’s almost never going to finish as WR37, where I have him ranked. He’s either cracking the top 25 or falling outside of the top 50 – your job is to evaluate your matchup and determine how much risk you can swallow at your WR3/Flex spot, an equation that will be different every week.