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Ihmir Smith-Marsette, WR Bears (1 Viewer)

The Man With No Name

The Man With No Name

Footballguy
Has impressed at camp and Individuals within Vikings organization believe Ihmir Smith-Marsette has 'untapped talent'. The 2021 5th round pick is being given every opportunity to be the Vikings WR3.

https://247sports.com/college/iowa/...mith-Marsette-Wide-Receiver-Three--166458481/

https://purpleptsd.com/perhaps-ihmir-smith-marsette-has-the-fast-track-to-wr3-after-all/

https://vikingsterritory.com/2021/g...s-12-5-td-to-catch-rate-may-just-be-the-start

Odds are he won't become fantasy relevant anytime soon, but you never know. Injuries happen. Things change. Thielen and Jefferson likely aren't going anywhere for years.
 
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Vikings selected Iowa WR Ihmir Smith-Marsette with the No. 157 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

The Athletic's draft evaluator Dane Brugler had Smith-Marsette graded as a seventh round pick. Smith-Marsette as a sophomore was the Big Ten return specialist of the year and his team's special teams most valuable player, filling up the stat sheet (24-707-29.5 on kick returns; 23-361-15.7, three TDs receiving; 9-71-7.9 rushing). His final collegiate season was marred by a drunk driving arrest and an injury sustained during a flip into the end zone against Wisconsin. He was the first Iowa player to record multiple touchdown returns in one season. A hyper-athletic wideout who struggled with drops at Iowa, Smith-Marsette posted a 71st percentile burst score during his pro day. Smith-Marsette, 21, profiles as a special teamer for the Vikings. 

May 1, 2021, 2:33 PM ET
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Iowa senior WR Ihmir Smith-Marsette declared for the NFL Draft.

Smith-Marsette (6'1/183) ends his college tenure on a high-note, as the Hawkeye wideout caught seven passes for a career-high 140 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-7 victory over Wisconsin on December 12. Pro Football Focus graded the senior as the 10th-best receiver on targets of at least 20 yards in 2019. His production dropped noticeably this season, recording under 45 yards receiving in five of his seven games. He is projected to run in the 4.5 40-yard dash range and is likely to be a late Day 3 NFL Draft selection.

SOURCE: Ihmir Smith-Marsette on Twitter

Dec 24, 2020, 11:44 AM ET
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I’ll say he’s a guy I’m wanting to stash for dynasty. He’s athletic, can make an impact on ST and there isn’t much competition for the WR3 spot. Plus Thielen is probably on the decline now. It’s easy to see a quick path to targets for ISM. 

 
I think the Vikings are still going to use a lot of 2 TE sets and that isn't something I see changing much unless or until Zimmer gets fired.

Tyler Conklin is a free agent after this season, so if they don't sign him or find another TE to take his place maybe the personnel would cause some change here. I don't think that is their plan though. Look at how they over payed Rudolph so they could keep some continuity and depth at the position.

I do like Smiths chances to become the WR 3 I just don't know if that is worth much in this offense without an injury to one of the starters.

As for Adam Thielen I am pretty sure the Vikings keep him as their starter, even after he shows some decline.

So the quickest path for Smith or another WR having a major impact would be if Zimmer gets canned and they go with a new coaching staff that wants to use 3 WR sets more.

As long as the Vikings win a lot of games in 2021 I dont see Zimmer losing his job.

 
Biabreakable said:
I think the Vikings are still going to use a lot of 2 TE sets and that isn't something I see changing much unless or until Zimmer gets fired.

Tyler Conklin is a free agent after this season, so if they don't sign him or find another TE to take his place maybe the personnel would cause some change here. I don't think that is their plan though. Look at how they over payed Rudolph so they could keep some continuity and depth at the position.

I do like Smiths chances to become the WR 3 I just don't know if that is worth much in this offense without an injury to one of the starters.

As for Adam Thielen I am pretty sure the Vikings keep him as their starter, even after he shows some decline.

So the quickest path for Smith or another WR having a major impact would be if Zimmer gets canned and they go with a new coaching staff that wants to use 3 WR sets more.

As long as the Vikings win a lot of games in 2021 I dont see Zimmer losing his job.
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It's all relative. We are talking about a guy who can be picked up as a FA in many dynasty leagues. Thielen is turning 31 in August. Thielen will need to either redo his deal or get cut after 2022. Plus, I do put some faith in the track record of the Vikings organization to identify talented WRs and incorporate them into the offense. It's a long shot but if ISM (or any WR) does find themselves next in line, the offensive tree is so narrow in Minnesota that it can be lucrative. 

 
Ilov80s said:
It's all relative. We are talking about a guy who can be picked up as a FA in many dynasty leagues. Thielen is turning 31 in August. Thielen will need to either redo his deal or get cut after 2022. Plus, I do put some faith in the track record of the Vikings organization to identify talented WRs and incorporate them into the offense. It's a long shot but if ISM (or any WR) does find themselves next in line, the offensive tree is so narrow in Minnesota that it can be lucrative. 
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Oh yeah its worth monitoring and if you have the roster space not a bad stash.

I am not sure about if Thielen will need a new contract or not but I was reading that the Vikings are actually in really good position as far as the salary cap for next season.

I think they find a way for Thielen to stay in Minnesota for awhile and that Thielen wants to be a Viking.

 
Biabreakable said:
Oh yeah its worth monitoring and if you have the roster space not a bad stash.

I am not sure about if Thielen will need a new contract or not but I was reading that the Vikings are actually in really good position as far as the salary cap for next season.

I think they find a way for Thielen to stay in Minnesota for awhile and that Thielen wants to be a Viking.
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Just looking at it, in 2022 he would be a cap hit of $18 million but the Vikings could save $11 million by cutting him. Just based on the kind of decline we typically see from WRs in their age 31 and 32 year season, it is hard for me to expect an NFL team to pay that kind of money. Just to give some comparison, Julio is 32 and has a $15 million cap hit this year. And Thielen is no Julio. It also seems pretty good odds that a 31 and 32 year old WR deals with some level of injuries over 34 games. IMS might get his shot and that's all one can ask for on an end of bench dynasty guy. 

 
Ilov80s said:
Just looking at it, in 2022 he would be a cap hit of $18 million but the Vikings could save $11 million by cutting him. Just based on the kind of decline we typically see from WRs in their age 31 and 32 year season, it is hard for me to expect an NFL team to pay that kind of money. Just to give some comparison, Julio is 32 and has a $15 million cap hit this year. And Thielen is no Julio. It also seems pretty good odds that a 31 and 32 year old WR deals with some level of injuries over 34 games. IMS might get his shot and that's all one can ask for on an end of bench dynasty guy. 
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Yeah well me being a Vikings fan maybe I am in some form of denial about Thielens spot on the team going forward. So I appreciate the info and your perspective on that.

I guess we will see. You make a good point that Thielen is likely looking at some sort of restructure of his contract.

 
I feel bad for Olabisi Johnson, but he has torn his ACL. This does create a really big opportunity for ISM to get on the field this year. 

 
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Ilov80s said:
I feel bad for Olabisi Johnson, but he has torn his ACL. This does create a really big opportunity for ISM to get on the field this year. 
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Does it? I figured it was a wash with the Westbrook signing at best (but don’t have any inside knowledge)

 
I think it will take an injury to Thielen or Jefferson.   Hard to stand out in a WR3 role in this offense, especially if it ends up being a split with Westbrook.   If it looks like he's pushing Westbrook aside in short order to take complete control of WR3, that's probably when I will start to get interested in my 24-man dynasty.   I get that you might not be able to wait for that in a deeper dynasty.   Not currently on my top 60 draft board rookie / free agent draft.

 
Ilov80s said:
Maybe but Westbrook is what, less than a year from his ACL tear? He's nothing special either. 
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Oh sure, if ISM is something special Westbrook isn’t an insurmountable obstacle by any means. But he appears to be a much better player than Johnson if he’s on the field so I don’t see a materially different opportunity than I did a month ago

 
EthnicFury said:
Oh sure, if ISM is something special Westbrook isn’t an insurmountable obstacle by any means. But he appears to be a much better player than Johnson if he’s on the field so I don’t see a materially different opportunity than I did a month ago
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Is he though? Westbrook had 1 catch for 4 yards last year. He tore his ACL in week 7. He’s going to turn 28 this year so he’s no longer a young player with upside. I’m not concerned at all with Westbrook. Bisi had at least earned trust from the Vikings staff. 

 
The pace wise the Vikings were 22nd place,  8th in rush attempts, 27th in pass attempts. They ran 3 WRs 294 snaps (29%), so in a 17G season they’ll be right around 300. The league average is over 60%, the only other teams under 40% were the Titans (410 - 38%)

In those 294 3WR snaps, they dropped back 193 times, 80.9 passer rating, 8/8 TD/INT, 15 sacks.

The new OC was an internal hire, served as the QB coach the last few years. 

I have a hard time believing he’ll be relevant in PPR bc he won’t run enough routes, but I am interested in him as a returner. It’s either him or Nwangwu, right?

 
BobbyLayne said:
The pace wise the Vikings were 22nd place,  8th in rush attempts, 27th in pass attempts. They ran 3 WRs 294 snaps (29%), so in a 17G season they’ll be right around 300. The league average is over 60%, the only other teams under 40% were the Titans (410 - 38%)

In those 294 3WR snaps, they dropped back 193 times, 80.9 passer rating, 8/8 TD/INT, 15 sacks.

The new OC was an internal hire, served as the QB coach the last few years. 

I have a hard time believing he’ll be relevant in PPR bc he won’t run enough routes, but I am interested in him as a returner. It’s either him or Nwangwu, right?
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They also haven’t had a good third WR in awhile, especially relative to Rudolph and Irv. If ISM or someone else plays well, we might see them use a 3rd WR more. Also, earning 3rd WR means an injury to Thielen or Jefferson boosts the 3rd WR into a potentially target rich position. As for returns, I would think ISM and Kene Nwangu will be in competition for those roles.

 
Ilov80s said:
Is he though? Westbrook had 1 catch for 4 yards last year. He tore his ACL in week 7. He’s going to turn 28 this year so he’s no longer a young player with upside. I’m not concerned at all with Westbrook. Bisi had at least earned trust from the Vikings staff. 
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Jax had a glut of decent/promising wrs last year so he didn’t get on the field much before getting hurt. Prior to that his worst season was more productive than Bisi’s best, and his other two seasons both eclipse Bisi’s career output by significant margins. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say he’s proven more on the field.

Of course if he’s not healthy it’s a moot point, but it feels silly not to acknowledge the guy has shown he can produce at a wr3 level whereas Bisi and ISM both have yet to do so

 
Ilov80s said:
Maybe but Westbrook is what, less than a year from his ACL tear? He's nothing special either. 
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Westbrook is fully recovered from his ACL and pretty much a full participant in camp so far.

I think Westbrook is a special player and I like his chances to win the WR 3 position for the Vikings this season over Smith-Marsette.

The Vikings WR coach Keenan McCardell has worked with Westbrook for his entire NFL career so far and is a big part of the reason Westbrook signed with the Vikings.

That said Smith-Marsette does seem to be a popular guy in training camp. A bit of a joker type personality.

 
BobbyLayne said:
Personnel Grouping Frequency
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If this is correct the Vikings used 2 TE sets a lot less in 2020 than they have previously. Only 22% of the time compared to 34% in 2019.

That said in recent press conference ZImmer stated that they will run a lot of 2 TE sets in 2021 which should be no surprise to anyone. Perhaps they used them less last season because they were chasing the score a lot more.

 
Ilov80s said:
Is he though? Westbrook had 1 catch for 4 yards last year. He tore his ACL in week 7. He’s going to turn 28 this year so he’s no longer a young player with upside. I’m not concerned at all with Westbrook. Bisi had at least earned trust from the Vikings staff. 
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Bisi Johnson may not make the team.

KJ Osborn has been making some plays in camp so far so I would give him the leg up on Johnson.

I do think Ihmir Smith-Marsette makes the team.

 
BobbyLayne said:
The pace wise the Vikings were 22nd place,  8th in rush attempts, 27th in pass attempts. They ran 3 WRs 294 snaps (29%), so in a 17G season they’ll be right around 300. The league average is over 60%, the only other teams under 40% were the Titans (410 - 38%)

In those 294 3WR snaps, they dropped back 193 times, 80.9 passer rating, 8/8 TD/INT, 15 sacks.

The new OC was an internal hire, served as the QB coach the last few years. 

I have a hard time believing he’ll be relevant in PPR bc he won’t run enough routes, but I am interested in him as a returner. It’s either him or Nwangwu, right?
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Or KJ Osborn.

They are looking at Westbrook to return punts. He has been good at that and the Vikings haven't had a good punt returner since Sherels fell off.

 
Biabreakable said:
If this is correct the Vikings used 2 TE sets a lot less in 2020 than they have previously. Only 22% of the time compared to 34% in 2019.
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Believe it’s ar least 31% brother.

12 formation 22%

22 formation 9%

(1 RB 2 TE/2 RB 2 TE)

that site tends to freeze / runs very slow on my tablet, I didn’t check for 3 TE sets.

 
BobbyLayne said:
Believe it’s ar least 31% brother.

12 formation 22%

22 formation 9%

(1 RB 2 TE/2 RB 2 TE)

that site tends to freeze / runs very slow on my tablet, I didn’t check for 3 TE sets.
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Ok I didnt look at it that closely.

I know last time I did the Vikings were one of the teams that used 2 TE more than most other teams in the league. IIRC the Ravens and 49ers use it a lot also.

 
EthnicFury said:
Jax had a glut of decent/promising wrs last year so he didn’t get on the field much before getting hurt. Prior to that his worst season was more productive than Bisi’s best, and his other two seasons both eclipse Bisi’s career output by significant margins. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say he’s proven more on the field.

Of course if he’s not healthy it’s a moot point, but it feels silly not to acknowledge the guy has shown he can produce at a wr3 level whereas Bisi and ISM both have yet to do so
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Biabreakable said:
Westbrook is fully recovered from his ACL and pretty much a full participant in camp so far.

I think Westbrook is a special player and I like his chances to win the WR 3 position for the Vikings this season over Smith-Marsette.

The Vikings WR coach Keenan McCardell has worked with Westbrook for his entire NFL career so far and is a big part of the reason Westbrook signed with the Vikings.

That said Smith-Marsette does seem to be a popular guy in training camp. A bit of a joker type personality.
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Chris Conley and Collin Johnson were on the field more and got more receptions than Westbrook last year. If he was so good, I wouldn’t think the Jags would have totally phased him out and been so eager to move on. Just my 2 cents. Again, we are talking about a taxi or end of deep bench player.

 
Ilov80s said:
Chris Conley and Collin Johnson were on the field more and got more receptions than Westbrook last year. If he was so good, I wouldn’t think the Jags would have totally phased him out and been so eager to move on. Just my 2 cents. Again, we are talking about a taxi or end of deep bench player.
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You may be right as Westbrook did lose his job to guys that I dont think are as good as he is.

There is a reason for that for sure.

 
With Jefferson hurt and Westbrook still rehabbing his knee, ISM is getting a lot of 1st string reps with Cousins. Hopefully he can impress and secure the WR3 spot. 

 
Some interesting tidbits from Mike Zimmers press conference today where he is asked about the WRs behind Jefferson and Thielen. The question starts at the 45 second mark.

He does say ISM has done a nice job unprompted. That he keeps getting better every day but that he needs to improve on special teams. He says they all did a good job, but it does stand out that ISM is the only WR he mentions by name in that response.

He is asked specifically what ISM needs to do better on special teams and the response is just that he has a lot of work to do. I can only speculate but I am guessing ISM may not be doing well on coverage teams. I dont know if he can tackle, and that he is also making mistakes on punt returns, which he is in the mix to possibly win that job if he gets better at it.

 
Biabreakable said:
Some interesting tidbits from Mike Zimmers press conference today where he is asked about the WRs behind Jefferson and Thielen. The question starts at the 45 second mark.

He does say ISM has done a nice job unprompted. That he keeps getting better every day but that he needs to improve on special teams. He says they all did a good job, but it does stand out that ISM is the only WR he mentions by name in that response.

He is asked specifically what ISM needs to do better on special teams and the response is just that he has a lot of work to do. I can only speculate but I am guessing ISM may not be doing well on coverage teams. I dont know if he can tackle, and that he is also making mistakes on punt returns, which he is in the mix to possibly win that job if he gets better at it.
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You would know this better but I get the impression Zimmer is the kind of coach who doesn’t like to dole out praise very often and is often on the critical side. Is that true?

 
Ilov80s said:
You would know this better but I get the impression Zimmer is the kind of coach who doesn’t like to dole out praise very often and is often on the critical side. Is that true?
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Somewhat true although I think he has a bit softer touch lately than he used to.

I thought it was worth mentioning that ISM was the only one he mentioned by name in the presser.

 
Biabreakable said:
Somewhat true although I think he has a bit softer touch lately than he used to.

I thought it was worth mentioning that ISM was the only one he mentioned by name in the presser.
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Oh yeah, I appreciate the comment. Good to know Zimmer is at least thinking about him. 

 
WR Ihmir Smith-Marsette won the Vikings' punt and kick returner job.

The Vikings released Ameer Abdullah Tuesday, who had been a core piece of their special teams unit. The Athletic's Arif Hasan reports that the Vikings felt comfortable moving on from Abdullah because of how "electric" Smith-Marsette has been as a punt and kick returner. Hasan notes that Smith-Marsette still has more to learn as a wide receiver, but the fifth round rookie looks like a lock to be active on game days, with minimal competition at the No. 3 wide receiver spot. 

- The Athletic
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SoBeDad said:
Donnybrook said:
I will be shocked if he is not claimed in 24 hours.
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There are many decent WRs who went unclaimed. Just from Miami, the Unicorn and Lynn Bowden, who can also return kicks.
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SoBeDad said:
Donnybrook said:
I will be shocked if he is not claimed in 24 hours.
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There are many decent WRs who went unclaimed. Just from Miami, the Unicorn and Lynn Bowden, who can also return kicks.
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Wouldn’t it be funny if a divisional rival claims him though.
 
Ilov80s said:
Donnybrook said:
I rather have ISM than Reagor. Just another one in a series of puzzling moves from the new Vikings GM.
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Report was that ISM is a problem in the locker room. He threatened a team mate and made somewhat derogatory comments about Jefferson’s GF.
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Link please. I know he had words with Booth but who hasn’t had words with Booth. By all accounts, he is the next Courtlin Finnegan.
 
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