Who Should I Start? Justyn Ross or Ihmir Smith-Marsette

Wednesday, February 12, 8:45 PM

The Kansas City Chiefs signed wide receivers Justyn Ross, Tyquan Thornton and Jason Brownlee, safety Deon Bush, tight end Baylor Cupp, defensive tackles Siaki Ika and Fabien Lovett, offensive tackle Chukwuebuka Godrick, quarterback Chris Oladokun and cornerbacks Darius Rush and Eric Scott to Reserve/Futures deals on Tuesday. Ross and Thornton are the biggest names of the group. Ross, 25, spent the majority of the 2024 season on KC's practice squad and didn't catch his only target while being active for two regular-season games in Weeks 9 and 10. The former undrafted free agent out of Clemson caught six of 11 targets for 53 yards and no touchdowns in 10 games in his rookie season in 2023. Thornton, 24, was a second-round pick by the Patriots in 2022 out of Baylor but was waived in November after catching four of eight targets for 47 yards in six games for New England.

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.