New York Jets second-round pick Devin Smith suffered broken ribs in the team's training camp practice on Friday. Per the team, Smith is set to miss the "majority of training camp."
This is definitely a blow to the Jets, as they look to create relationships between likely starter Geno Smith and his new tools, the rookie receiver and Brandon Marshall included.
In terms of what this does to Smith's fantasy stock, there isn't a whole heck of a lot to look at here from the standpoint of the immediate future. If you are relying on the first-year player as a starter or top-end bench option in standard 12-team leagues, you are already in trouble. Smith's ADP prior to the news that he was going to miss the majority of camp was non-existent in standard leagues. That's unlikely to change any time soon. Though, any thought of him beating out Eric Decker as the team's No. 2 receiver behind Marshall has to be thrown out the window.
That's where Decker himself comes into play.
A free-agent signee of the Jets last offseason, Decker put up 74 receptions for nearly 1,000 yards and five scores last season. That was good enough for him to rank 28th among receivers in fantasy points. Without Smith attempting to fend him off, Decker should still find himself in a position to at least put up bottom-end FLEX numbers or be a top bench option in 2015.
Knowing how much rookie receivers tend to struggle out of the gate, Smith's unfortunate injury probably sets him back for the early part of the season. At that point, Decker should be able to maintain his positioning as a highly-targeted option. Though, it's still not going to be up to the level of the seven targets he averaged last season. That's only magnified with Marshall taking over as the team's top receiver.