Who Should I Start? Alex Bachman or Ihmir Smith-Marsette

Thursday, January 23, 10:45 PM

The Las Vegas Raiders re-signed wide receiver Alex Bachman to a Reserve/Futures deal on Thursday. Bachman spent most of the 2024 season on the Raiders' practice squad, but he was active for six games (one start) and caught all three of his targets for 31 yards and no touchdowns -- all in Week 6 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The 28-year-old pass-catcher originally went undrafted out of Wake Forest but latched on with the New York Giants. He appeared in four games for the G-Men in 2020 and 2021 but was not targeted at all in the passing game while receiving one carry for a loss of three yards in 2021. Bachman will continue his development with the Black and Silver this offseason and through training camp this summer as he looks to make the active 53-man roster for Week 1 of the 2025 regular season.

Saturday, August 24, 9:36 PM

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette (ankle) left the team's preseason finale against the Buffalo Bills early on Saturday after landing awkwardly completing a catch in the second quarter. The 24-year-old hauled in 2-of-3 targets for 11 yards while contributing 27 yards on two punt returns and a field-flipping 46 yards on his lone kick return. Smith-Marsette was productive before he picked up the injury and is expected to be the team's returner this upcoming season. Barring the severity of his ankle issue, that could still be the case. It's a bit early to tell how impactful the NFL's new kickoff rules will be come the start of the regular season. However, fantasy managers may want to keep the Iowa product on their radar as a sneaky option, depending on how your league values return yards. His Yahoo! ADP is far down enough that he'd be best suited as a prospective waiver-wire add.