Brad

Smith

Smith started slow in May but seems to have turned it around. CBs Derrick Strait and Drew Coleman looked good, as did fourth-round RB Leon Washington.

Smith succeeded when calling signals in New York’s preseason finale, engineering the team to a victory in the game’s waning minutes. He’s fifth in depth at wideout and listed fourth at quarterback. If Smith plays QB in some packages, Chad Pennington’s Week 1 value would diminish.

For the season, Smith now has 44 yards and one score on 11 rushes. Despite the fact that Donald Jones was lost for the day with a first-quarter ankle injury, Smith did not appear as a receiver one week after making his first two catches of 2011. He remains off the fantasy radar.

Smith started opposite Stevie Johnson and racked up five targets, but this is the danger with a “gadget” player. He struggled to separate and Ryan Fitzpatrick eventually turned his attention to Derek Hagan on some deep balls. Smith won’t be a real fantasy option against the Dolphins next week.

As expected, Smith has come back to earth since his fluky Week 12 and 13 outbursts. He’s a gadget player that is now losing snaps to Derek Hagan and Ruvell Martin.

Smith was officially listed as a “starter” opposite Stevie Johnson and ended up leading the Bills in targets with 10. He caught almost all of his passes underneath, but used his kick returner ability to make things happen after the catch. Smith is on the deep-league PPR radar as an every-down player that has 14 catches in the last three weeks.

Smith made five starts down the stretch in 2011, but averaged only 32 yards in them. He’s not a natural wideout. “We were going along there and running the Wildcat with him and if you’d look, when our third-down efficiency dropped off was when we had to move him to wideout full-time,” Gailey said. "...He can be your fifth or sixth wideout, he can be a good special teams player.”

Lee’s biggest claim to fame in the NFL is introducing the Wildcat craze with the Dolphins back in 2008. Sporting News named him Innovator of the Year for his efforts. His hire is further evidence that the Bills will increase Brad Smith’s offensive role as a gadget player in 2012.

David Nelson will remain in his natural slot position. Smith posted four catches for 77 yards and a score against the Jets last week and has now moved ahead of Naaman Roosevelt on the depth chart. Extreme deep leaguers can take a flier, but we’d expect last week to be Smith’s best game of the season. He’s really a returner/gadget guy more than a wideout.

Coach Chan Gailey said Smith’s hamstring injury “just won’t go away.” Instead of Naaman Roosevelt, the Bills will turn to Derek Hagan against the Pats.