Who Should I Start? Chris Blair or Ihmir Smith-Marsette

Saturday, August 16, 11:42 AM

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Chris Blair led the team in receiving yards, thanks mostly to a 52-yard catch-and-run down the sideline on an Easton Stick pass in the third quarter of Friday's 23-20 loss to the Titans. In all, the 27-year-old caught three of his five targets for a total of 78 yards. It's the second consecutive week with a touchdown catch after hauling in three passes for 54 yards in the team's 17-10 preseason loss to the Lions last week. The wide receiver corps for the Falcons is pretty much set, with Drake London, Darnell Mooney, and Ray-Ray McCloud the top three, along with fourth wideout KhaDarel Hodge, who has been with the team since 2022. Blair is battling veteran DJ Chark and a host of others for what is probably just one spot available on the roster, although his performance the last two weeks should help give him a leg up on most of them.

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.