Who Should I Start? Ihmir Smith-Marsette or Kameron Johnson

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.

Saturday, October 18, 9:02 PM

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Kameron Johnson came out of nowhere and had a solid game versus the San Francisco 49ers last week. Johnson hauled in all four of his targets for 64 yards and a touchdown in the win. Normally, Johnson is a distant option on the depth chart, but the Bucs are extremely banged up right now. They could be without Mike Evans (hamstring) and Emeka Egbuka (hamstring) for Monday's game against the Detroit Lions. If they sit, Johnson, Sterling Shepard, and Tez Johnson would be the primary wideouts. The organization praised Johnson after his four-catch performance last weekend. He figures to have an expanded role if Evans and Egbuka are unable to go. There could be some flex value here for fantasy managers who are desperate for an option this weekend.