Who Should I Start? Cooper Kupp or DeVonta Smith

Monday, October 21, 6:36 PM

The Los Angeles Rams listed wide receiver Cooper Kupp (ankle) as a full participant on Monday's estimated practice report ahead of their Week 8 game this Thursday night against the Minnesota Vikings. The Rams fully expect Kupp to play on Thursday night for the first time since spraining his ankle in Week 2, but head coach Sean McVay said that Kupp's workload in his first game back is "to be determined." It will likely depend on good the 31-year-old veteran wideout looks over the next couple of days in practice. And even then, Kupp will carry a decent amount of risk in his first game back. Before his injury, Kupp was looking more like the version of himself that won Offensive Player of the Year in 2021, catching 18 of his 27 targets for 147 yards and a touchdown. With Puka Nacua (knee) still on Injured Reserve, too, Kupp should be heavily targeted whenever he is on the field.

Sunday, October 20, 8:36 PM

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith caught one of his two targets and lost two yards during the team's 28-3 win over the New York Giants. While this stat line is going to look terrible to those who did not watch this game, there is no real reason to panic here. The Eagles leaned heavily on running back Saquon Barkley in this game and he tallied 187 total yards. Quarterback Jalen Hurts only needed to attempt 14 passes and all of the starters were out of the game in the early fourth quarter. It would have been nice to see the former Heisman winner get more of the target pie with such a low volume of pass attempts, but this was a week we can move on from because of the heavy Barkley reliance. Smith will still be considered a WR2 when the Eagles take on the Cincinnati Bengals.