Who Should I Start? Ihmir Smith-Marsette or DJ Turner

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.

Monday, March 3, 10:45 PM

The Las Vegas Raiders are not tendering restricted free-agent wide receiver DJ Turner (knee) this offseason, a source tells ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. While Turner will now be an unrestricted free agent and free to sign with any team, the Raiders are open to re-signing him. The 28-year-old former undrafted free agent caught 16 of his 29 targets for 158 yards and a touchdown in 12 games (six starts) for Vegas in 2024 before landing on Injured Reserve with a knee injury. He added five carries on the ground for 33 yards and a touchdown. Although he didn't move the fantasy needle at all in his third year in the NFL, it was a notable increase in role for Turner after he had just a single target in 19 games (no starts) in his first two years with the Raiders. Regardless of where Turner ends up playing in 2025, he's likely to remain well off the fantasy radar.