Who Should I Start? Ihmir Smith-Marsette or Jimmy Horn Jr.

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.

Tuesday, June 3, 3:26 PM

Carolina Panthers rookie wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr. (hamstring) is not practicing during this week's OTAs as he works through a hamstring injury, according to team reporter David Newton. While catching passes from Shedeur Sanders over the last two seasons at Colorado, Horn hauled in 95 receptions for 1,008 yards and seven touchdowns in 23 games. He was a sixth-round selection in the 2025 NFL Draft, and it would be somewhat of a surprise if he's on the fantasy football radar in Year 1. Assuming he can get healthy and make the 53-man roster, he figures to begin his career behind Tetairoa McMillan, Xavier Legette, Adam Thilen, David Moore, Jalen Coker, and potentially more wideouts on the depth chart.