Who Should I Start? Jordan Matthews or Ihmir Smith-Marsette

Tuesday, November 12, 2:12 PM

The Carolina Panthers are releasing wide receiver Cam Johnson and tight end Jordan Matthews on Tuesday, according to NFL.com. The team also activated veteran wideout Adam Thielen from Injured Reserve. Johnson went unselected in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Northwestern and has spent time on the Cowboys and Panthers practice squad. Matthews, who began his career as a wide receiver out of Vanderbilt in 2014, has been with Carolina since 2023, but he only played in one game for the organization. These moves do not have any fantasy football impact.

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.