Who Should I Start? Treylon Burks or Ihmir Smith-Marsette

Friday, October 17, 10:11 AM

The Washington Commanders have officially announced their signing of wide receiver Treylon Burks to a practice squad contract, per Commanders beat writer Ben Standig. A former first-round pick by the Tennessee Titans in 2022, Burks suffered a broken collarbone in training camp and was released by the Titans from the Injured Reserve list earlier this year. In 27 career games with Tennessee, Burks recorded 53 catches for 699 yards and one touchdown on 92 targets. He should have an opportunity for playing time in Washington given the current injuries to wide receivers Terry McLaurin (quad) and Noah Brown (groin, knee). The Commanders could also be without Deebo Samuel Sr. (heel) in Week 7 against the Dallas Cowboys. Burks cannot be trusted for immediate fantasy production, but he is a name to monitor in deep leagues due to the injury situation in Washington.

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.