Who Should I Start? Randall Cobb or JuJu Smith-Schuster

Thursday, December 28, 7:14 PM

New York Jets wide receiver Allen Lazard (illness) is inactive for the Week 17 game on Thursday night against the Cleveland Browns after coming into the game listed as questionable to play. As a result of Lazard being too ill to play, veteran Randall Cobb will be active for just the 10th time this season. He'll still be behind Garrett Wilson, Jason Brownlee and Xavier Gipson in the receiving pecking order and probably won't be on the field all that much on offense. The 33-year-old has only four catches on 16 targets for 35 yards and a touchdown in his first year in New York. Lazard has been even more of a bust for the Jets in his first year in 2023, catching 23 of his 49 targets for 311 yards and a touchdown in 14 games. He was expected to be a solid No. 2 next to Wilson, but it hasn't worked out that way.

Thursday, May 2, 2:33 PM

Starting next month, the New England Patriots could cut wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster at a cost of $9.6 million in dead money and no salary cap relief, per Over the Cap, while releasing him before then would incur $2.6 million more in dead money and take a small chunk out of their league-leading $54 million cap room. If the Pats traded Smith-Schuster after June 1, they'd save almost $7 million in cap space and clear room for their young receivers to see more playing time. New England could prioritize playing time for rookies Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker, plus 2023 sixth-rounder Demario Douglas. It all means that Smith-Schuster may no longer be the team's No. 2 receiver, especially with Kendrick Bourne and K.J. Osborn also on the roster.