NFL Player News

The seventh-round picks are conditional seventh-rounders, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. In addition to his role as a receiver, Smith-Marsette also has experience as a return man. It’s possible the Panthers acquired Smith-Marsette for his return abilities, but he could find some work in a relatively thin receiver room.

Lemon also “added” a -5 yard rush. Lemon’s first quarter catch ended up going down as his only target of the afternoon. He’s now stuck on four catches for nine yards through his first two NFL contests, and is getting soundly out-targeted by Dontayvion Wicks. That’s with Darius Cooper mixing in. The Eagles are calling plays like Lemon has to be manufactured his touches. Two games is not a large sample size, but it is enough to know we can’t rely on Lemon as a WR4 for Week 3 in Chicago.

After splitting work fairly evenly with Christian McCaffrey in Week 1, Black took a clearer backup role here. He had some snaps on the first drive of the game, but then Black mixed in sporadically until the game was decided early in the fourth quarter. At the end of the day, the rookie played on 16 of the team’s 45 snaps and is unlikely to have any standalone value; yet, he remains one of the better handcuffs in fantasy football.

Trevor Lawrence, as always, targeting Washington heavily, as no other Jacksonville pass catcher saw more than eight targets on the day. Washington came within half a yard of a touchdown in the first half after scoring in Week 1 against the Browns. Clearly the team’s No. 1 wideout, Washington should have a rock-solid weekly floor with upside to spare, especially when the Jaguars have to operate a more pass-heavy offense. Washington will be a top-15 play next week against the Patriots.

It was not an efficient day for the 49ers’ running backs, but Brock Purdy dissected the Dolphins enough that McCaffrey was set up for a couple of easy touchdown runs. His longest rush of the day was just five yards, so the team will be looking to get that sorted out ahead of Week 3’s game against the Cardinals. The positive news is that McCaffrey didn’t really split time with Kaelon Black as much before the end of the game. He remains a locked-in RB1.

The 74 yards were the fifth most of Wicks’ career, putting him one ahead of the 73 he posted in his first game as an Eagle last week. The former Packer is off to a great Philly start from a compiling standpoint, though he did lose snaps to Darius Cooper as the game wore on this afternoon. Hopefully that was for some inscrutable matchup-based reason. Wicks can rug pull with the best of them, so despite the two strong efforts to begin the year, he should be considered more of a WR5 than WR4 heading into Week 3 in Chicago.

Kirk Cousins got the deep ball going in this game after settling for mostly check-downs in Week 1. Tucker caught two passes of 40+ yards, the first of which was a second-quarter touchdown. He also tied Ashton Jeanty with a team-high seven targets, so it wasn’t just a one-off deep shot for the veteran wideout. Brock Bowers is expected to return next week, meaning Tucker’s target share should take a hit the next time we see him. Even if he is relegated to field-stretching duties in Week 3, Tucker will remain a high-ceiling FLEX bet versus the Saints.

Willis was also held to just six yards on the ground as the 49ers’ defensive line was in his face all game long. 77 of Willis’ 197 passing yards came on one busted coverage pass to Ryan Miller in garbage time against defensive backups. There was a belief that Willis would provide fantasy value because of his talent as a runner, but the Dolphins offense has been so bad through two games that we’d find it hard to recommend playing Willis outside of the deepest two quarterback leagues.

The Bucs main slot guy saw some early involvement but was invisible for most of the second half as the Bucs pushed the ball downfield. Godwin, who now has 86 yards on seven grabs through two games, is a WR4 option in a struggling Tampa offense. Until Baker Mayfield improves, Godwin should stay on benches in most fantasy formats, especially against the formidable Minnesota defense in Week 3.

The Dolphins’ defense didn’t put up much of a fight, but Purdy was tremendous in this one. He bought extra time in the pocket when he needed to, made plays with his legs if the opportunities were there, and found open receivers over the middle of the field all game long. He may find the going a little bit tougher next week against the Cardinals, but probably not much. The bigger question will be who else can step up in the receiver room with Demarcus Robinson leaving this game with an ankle injury.

Spears got out-touched 15-9 by Tony Pollard, but the duo played in a near-even rotation for most of the afternoon. Spears also converted a fourth quarter 3rd-and-22 with a slippery sideline rumble. It would have sealed the game for a lot of teams, but the Titans are not a lot of teams. Spears clearly has the new coaching staff’s trust, but he remains mired on the weak-side of a rotation, one that could be getting larger if rookie Nicholas Singleton starts mixing in for more work. There’s just not a whole lot to do with Spears in 12-team leagues heading into Week 3 against the Giants.