Xavier

Smith

What Smith did do was lose his footing on a punt return, letting the ball bounce off his chest and arms and right to the Seahawks. It immediately led to a touchdown in what finished as a four-point loss. Kyren Williams replaced Smith afterwards. Smith battled Tutu Atwell for a roster spot all season and eventually won out because of his work on special teams. Welp. An exclusive rights free agent in 2026, Smith was mostly a shot-play weapon and doesn’t figure to have a real fantasy role next season.

Smith operated as the WR2 with Davante Adams out of action, a role that would have likely been far less conducive to fantasy production had the Rams not been playing from behind throughout after going down 21-0 at the half. The significantly negative game script forced the Rams away from a 12 and 13-personnel base offense, allowing for more snaps for the speedy youngster. Adams is reportedly due back to the game-day roster in Week 18, meaning Smith is likely headed back to a situational role when the Rams take on the Cardinals to end their regular season.

Smith was wide open for a 48-yard connection with Matt Stafford to set up a score. The 28-year-old certainly has some speed, but even with Davante Adams not available, there just aren’t enough targets to make him fantasy relevant at this stage.

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.