Who Should I Start? Ihmir Smith-Marsette or Dominic Lovett

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.

Thursday, July 31, 11:42 PM

Detroit Lions rookie wide receiver Dominic Lovett was targeted nine times during his team's 34-7 preseason loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, hauling in five catches for 31 yards. The 22-year-old also featured prominently on special teams, returning a kick for 22 yards and a punt for 19. A seventh-round pick out of Georgia, Lovett recorded 59 catches for 607 yards and six touchdowns in 14 games with the Bulldogs last season. He figures to be competing with veteran Kalif Raymond for Detroit's WR4/return specialist role. Raymond has been a steady contributor across four seasons in Detroit heading into 2025, but he's entering his age-31 season, and his 17 catches in 2024 were his fewest since 2020. Lovett would need multiple injuries in the Lions' receiver room to be fantasy relevant in 2025, but a strong preseason could assure him of a roster spot.