Getty Gallery: 2/5
Start: TE Ian Thomas vs. Saints
Sit: TE Jimmy Graham vs. Bears
The Panthers received bad news a few weeks ago when Greg Olsen was ruled out for the season. The good news is rookie tight end Ian Thomas has performed well in his absence. Thomas is coming off a solid Week 14 outing, nine receptions for 77 yards against the Browns. The tight end had five receptions for 46 yards in Week 13.
Thomas had a solid senior season at Indiana notching 25 receptions for 376 yards and five touchdowns.
This week, Thomas gets a great matchup against the Saints who give up the fifth-most passing yards in the NFL at 271.1 yards per game. Cam Newton already has a lot of confidence in Thomas.
"He's good," Newton told 247 Sports. "He's real good. But he's still young and still learning certain things. I think he's more comfortable with the plays that's given. And it was good for him to kind of play sparingly and just learn behind Greg more ... Just to see where he's come from and how fast he's playing really is a (tribute) to his mentality and where he knows where he has to be."
Panthers head coach Ron Rivera is already seeing improvement in Thomas' play.
“He’s had a chance to learn and reflect, and you can see the improvement," Rivera said per Panthers.com.
Jimmy Graham Is Not Who We Thought He Was
We always encourage fantasy owners to start their studs in the playoffs, but Jimmy Graham is only a stud based on name recognition. Graham has not been able to post consistent fantasy numbers since arriving in Green Bay and has been a disappointment based on the massive preseason expectations.
Graham had just two receptions for 13 yards against a bad Falcons defense in Week 14. This week, Graham gets a difficult matchup against a top-10 Bears defense. Despite the coaching change, Aaron Rodgers believes the Packers still have a chance at the playoffs.
“The interesting thing is, we didn’t talk about it at all," Rodgers told USA Today. "I don’t know if guys were resigned to not thinking that there’s a chance, or everything that was going on, nobody even mentioned it. I mentioned it briefly before the game."
Graham's fantasy outlook for 2019 could improve depending on the Packers coaching change. As of now, Graham is a touchdown-dependent fantasy tight end, which is not the type of player you want to start in your playoff matchup. We will see if the Packers utilize the tight end more next season when their new offense is installed.