A.J. Brown vs Khalil Shakir: Who Should You Start?
Two wide receivers who will land on plenty of the same rosters in 2026. A.J. Brown (Philadelphia Eagles) finished the 2025 season averaging 12.1 fantasy points per game in 15 games. Khalil Shakir (Buffalo Bills) came in at 8.1 PPG over 16 games. The gap is real but not insurmountable with the right matchup.
A.J. Brown carries a 4.0-point PPG advantage from the 2025 season. That baseline matters, but it is one input among several. Matchup difficulty, scoring trends, and injury reports move the needle week to week, which is why the best answer changes depending on when you are asking.
Target volume is the story here. A.J. Brown saw 121 targets in 2025, while Khalil Shakir drew 95. That workload gap usually translates into a higher weekly floor for A.J. Brown, even in weeks where Khalil Shakir posts the bigger ceiling game. Consistency-minded managers lean toward target share; boom-bust managers chase the upside.
A.J. Brown has his bye in Week 5, and Khalil Shakir rests in Week 12. Managers rostering both need waiver wire depth at wide receiver for those two weeks, and that is exactly the kind of planning DraftCall's matchup engine surfaces automatically so you are not scrambling on a Sunday morning.
