Xavier

Smith

Entering the day with just 85 yards on the season, Smith unexpectedly led the Rams with 82 yards through the air in Sunday’s defeat. His longest gain on the afternoon came on a 51-yard catch thanks to a beautifully thrown deep ball by Matthew Stafford. It was a good outing for Smith, but with the low target count, we can chalk this performance up as a one-off.

He and Konata Mumpfield (33 snaps, zero catches) led the Rams’ WR3 platoon with Jordan Whittington only playing seven snaps. None of these players are worthwhile roster spots in this current incarnation of the Rams’ offense, though perhaps if a team thoroughly game-scripted the Rams they’d pop up. Nobody has really stepped up to fill the Tutu Atwell role to this point.

Whittington is scheduled to resume practicing, in a limited capacity today. While the return is good, he is seemingly on the wrong side of questionable for this divisional matchup. Whittington was out-targeted by rotational WR Xavier Smith 3-0 last week, and currently does not need to be rostered in re-draft formats.

Atwell and Xavier Smith (1/36 on his only target and snap) were the only non-Puka Nacua and Davante Adams receivers to have a catch in Week 1. Jordan Whittington was third on the team amongst receivers in snaps with 30, while Atwell had 25. Atwell is on pace to earn $580,000 per target on his one-year, $10 million contract. He’s not on pace to be fantasy relevant barring injuries ahead of him in the pecking order.

Smith’s 24-yard run helped setup Kyren Williams’ two-yard touchdown. He’s shown up sporadically as a punt returner and receiver as well this season and can be speculatively stashed on dynasty benches for the time being. The speedy player is unlikely to blossom into a star but he could potentially be deployed akin to Tutu Atwell.

The Rams trimmed down to 52 on Tuesday but are still without a kicker. They will carry seven wide receivers and four running backs into the regular season. Also released or waived were T A.J. Arcuri, K Tanner Brown, DE T.J. Carter, LB Daniel Hardy, DB Quindell Johnson, TE Nikola Kalinic, C Mike McAllister, DB Cameron McCutcheon, G Grant Miller, LB Keir Thomas, WR Austin Trammell, QB Dresser Winn, LB Jaiden Woodbey, DT Marquise Copeland, RB Royce Freeman, QB Brett Rypien, LB DeAndre Square and DB Rashad Torrence.