Recommending players from a lousy team like the Panthers is never fun – but here we are.
Wide receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. has been hard to ignore lately, as he's turned in quality fantasy games in back-to-back weeks. The LSU product even outperformed stud WR1 DJ Moore against the Bengals in Week 9.
As always, Action Network’s fantasy football experts are here to make sense of Marshall and determine whether he’s worth your waiver-wire claim or free agent budget.
Sean Koerner: Marshall was drafted in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft for a reason. He was commanding targets at LSU despite playing alongside Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. We have to forgive him for having a slow start to his career considering he’s had Sam Darnold, Cam Newton and Baker Mayfield as his quarterbacks.
Marshall posted another solid receiving line (3/53/1) and ran a route on 97% of dropbacks. Although it mostly came in garbage time, it was nice to see Marshall gain some chemistry with Mayfield given we could see a carousel of QBs under center in Carolina for the remainder of the season.
Either way, the Panthers are giving Marshall every opportunity to shine. He’s a solid WR4 option in deeper leagues, but I’m afraid he’s already producing something close to his ceiling.
Samantha Previte: Our D.J. Moore dream died so Terrace Marshall could live.
Marshall has now posted two good games in a row for fantasy. In Week 8, the Year 2 wideout caught 4-of-9 targets for 87 yards against Atlanta. In Week 9, he caught 3-of-6 targets for 53 yards and a touchdown against the Bengals despite a mid-game change at quarterback. Moore was a non-factor and caught 2-of-6 targets for 24 yards.
Better days are ahead for Moore and Marshall, the latter of which was the WR16 in half-PPR scoring. He should continue to see an uptick in targets and is a viable deep-league flex play with the Falcons on deck.
Marshall was the WR27 last week against Atlanta's exploitable pass defense, which ranks second-worst in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers this year.
Mike Triplett: I mentioned last week with the Chargers’ Josh Palmer that my favorite type of waiver-wire investment is a young player with high upside and a growing opportunity. Marshall definitely fits both of those categories as a 2021 second-round pick who is now finally getting an opportunity in Carolina’s trade-depleted offense (more than 90% of the Panthers’ offensive snaps over the past two weeks with a combined seven catches for 140 yards and a TD).
The best news of all is that he’s facing an Atlanta defense that has allowed the most fantasy points to WRs this year. … Unfortunately, that trade-depleted offense is also very uninspiring, so it’s hard to count on consistent production long-term from No. 1 WR DJ Moore, much less the Panthers’ WR2.
