Who Should I Start? Ihmir Smith-Marsette or Kevin Austin 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.

Sunday, January 5, 9:52 AM

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. has seen increased playing time over the last few weeks. Austin has seen 70 percent of the offensive snaps or more during each of the last three games. Sadly, Austin hasn't been able to do much with the extra snaps. The 24-year-old has three receptions for 48 yards over the span. The expectation is Austin will continue seeing plenty of the field during Sunday's regular season finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, Austin hasn't done enough on the field lately to be considered a viable fantasy option.