Steve

Smith

Eagles coaches say Smith has shown enough to be able to play Sunday, but a decision won’t be made until later in the week. Neither Smith nor OC Marty Monhinweg would answer in the affirmative when asked if Smith’s knee was 100 percent recovered from microfracture surgery.

Smith’s playing time is rising as he’s working his way into game shape. However, he’ll have to pass Jason Avant for the full-time slot job to be worth anything at all in fantasy. That’s unlikely to happen anytime soon as the Eagles have an extremely high trust level in Avant.

Smith was on the field for considerably more snaps than he was in a zero-target Week 1 performance, but was still clearly fourth on the Eagles’ depth chart at receiver. His role should continue to grow, but he’s probably weeks away from getting you any points, particularly in non-PPR formats.

Smith has seen his targets go from zero to three to five in the span of three weeks, and is slowly carving out a role in the Eagles’ receiver corps. However, he remains behind Jason Avant in the slot, and still isn’t worth a flier outside of exceptionally deep leagues.

He’s been targeted only once since Week 3. Well behind Jason Avant in the slot, Smith is off the fantasy radar in all formats.

It’s another sign that the new Rams regime wouldn’t heartbroken if restricted free agent Danny Amendola was signed to an offer sheet. Both Smith and Amendola are most effective in the slot. Smith wouldn’t solve the Rams’ need for a true No. 1 receiver.

That is, if they reunite with either. Even with Mario Manningham set to depart, it’s possible the Giants won’t be in the market for a receiver after re-signing Domenik Hixon and spending a third-round pick on Jerrel Jernigan in 2011.

Only Brian Quick, Chris Givens, and Danny Amendola are considered locks to make the 53, and it’s wide open for the fifth and sixth spots if Smith can secure the fourth. “It really is up in the air between Brandon Gibson, Danario Alexander, Austin Pettis and Greg Salas,” said the Rams source. “I really was starting to like Salas before he got hurt. He reminds me of a bigger Amendola.”

Fisher feels that Smith can get back to where he was in 2009 when he caught 107 balls for 1,220 yards and 7 touchdowns. After suffering a knee injury that required microfracture surgery in 2010, Smith was not the same player with the Eagles in 2011. Considering the Rams underwhelming wide receiver situation, the 26-year-old possession receiver has a chance to play every down if he is, in fact, back to 100% health.

So it’s a one-year, $2.5 million deal theoretically, but none of the per-game roster bonuses are guaranteed. They’re valued at $93,750 apiece, and will be paid if and only if he’s active on game days. Ultimately, it appears Smith was guaranteed no money on the one-year, prove-it deal. He could conceivably be cut in training camp if Smith fails to show his troublesome knee has healed.