Who Should I Start? Mack Hollins or Arian Smith

Saturday, November 22, 10:42 AM

New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins has been a pleasant surprise lately, catching 19 passes for 268 yards over his last four games. He ranks as the WR23 in PPR leagues during that span, but a portion of his contributions came with Kayshon Boutte (hamstring) sidelined. Boutte returns to action this Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 12, raising questions about Hollins' expected role. Fortunately, the veteran receiver was able to carve out a consistent role even before Boutte suffered his injury. In his final game before Boutte got hurt, Hollins played 72% of the snaps with seven catches for 89 yards. For comparison, last weekend, the 32-year-old had an 85% snap share with four catches and 64 yards. Even if Hollins' snap share drops a few percentage points with Boutte back, he should still maintain a sizable role in New England's offense. Managers should be wary of the fact that Cincinnati has allowed the second-fewest fantasy points to receivers playing out wide this season, but Hollins still has upside given his possession skills, as well as his occasional reps in the slot (21.2% rate). He ranks as RotoBaller's WR45 this week and could be a decent flex play.

Wednesday, November 19, 12:15 AM

New York Jets wide receiver Arian Smith had his lowest snap share since Week 1 in the team's 27-14 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 11. Smith played just 15.8% of the snaps and ran 21.2% of the routes, both significantly lower than his season averages. It seems the rookie wideout has moved into a depth role after the Jets acquired two wide receivers at the trade deadline in John Metchie III and Adonai Mitchell. Smith wasn't a fantasy-relevant option to begin with, catching six of 10 targets for 47 yards in 10 games this season.