Who Should I Start? Jonnu Smith or Ian Thomas

Friday, December 5, 9:51 PM

Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Jonnu Smith has been extremely quiet on the field outside of his nine receptions through the first two games of the season. It has become much worse of late, with Smith posting some games with less than 10 receiving yards. Over the last four games, he has finished with one catch or fewer in three of them. The Steelers have too many tight ends to feed them all consistently. At this point, Smith has fallen behind Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington in the pecking order at the position. Smith is unlikely to have much success against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 14. None of these tight ends should be viewed as consistent options, but Smith is by far the worst of the bunch.

Tuesday, March 25, 1:32 PM

The Las Vegas Raiders announced on Tuesday that they signed free-agent tight end Ian Thomas (calf) to an undisclosed deal on Tuesday. Thomas will head to the AFC West after spending the first seven years of his NFL career with the Carolina Panthers after they selected him in the fourth round (101st overall) in the 2018 NFL draft out of Indiana. The 28-year-old never really established himself as a fantasy asset in Carolina, with his best season coming in his rookie campaign with a 36-333-2 line on 49 targets in 16 games (six starts). Thomas landed on Injured Reserve in 2024 with a calf injury and only caught three of six targets for seven yards in five games (two starts). He scored four touchdowns in his first three seasons but hasn't found the end zone since. In Vegas, he'll provide TE depth behind Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer and will remain off the fantasy radar.