Week 2 is in the books and we have more answers than we had last week but also more questions for the future. That’s why it’s so important to stay up to date on what’s happening here as the landscape is always shifting. The trends of today lead to the breakouts of tomorrow.
As a reminder, this year we have a brand new tool that lets you not only look at this week's snaps but the total snaps on the year and percentage played by each player. On top of that you can sort by team or position to see how your guy stacks up!
The best way to consume this article is to have that tool open in another window and then sort by “team” which will automatically sort the players from most to least snaps. Then in this article I'll give an explanation as to what happened as well as some additional underlying stats (slot snaps, pass blocking snaps etc.) and what sort of actionable data we can extract to help us win our leagues.
49ers
WR: Brandon Aiyuk picked up some more snaps but still not a full share - his 20 routes were the next highest of any WR behind Deebo Samuel’s 28 though. I think in the end talent wins out and Aiyuk is an asset but there’s clearly a reason he’s not playing as much as folks thought.
RB: What a nightmare backfield. Trey Sermon left with a concussion after one snap so we didn’t get much in terms of answers there. Elijah Mitchell and JaMycal Hasty played the bulk of the snaps with Mitchell skewing run and Hasty pass but they both left with injuries and didn’t return. The answer on who you should start is whoever is healthy. Maybe stash Jeff Wilson if you have an IR spot.
TE: George Kittle’s usage was far better than last week - in Week 1 he blocked on 10 pass plays while this week he only blocked on four. Despite not being heavily targeted, his 30 routes run actually lead the team ahead of Deebo’s 28. Better days are on the horizon for Kittle.
Bears
WR: Darnell Mooney and Allen Robinson are essentially playing full snap shares on the outside. No other WR is mixing in enough to be fantasy relevant as of now.
RB: It was the David Montgomery show once again - this should continue at least until Tarik Cohen is back.
TE: Cole Kmet played a good sized snap share again, ran 22 routes, and lined up at WR 18 times. The Bears only completed 15 passes for 116 yards total so not a lot of room for activity. Worth noting Kmet also had a 13 yard catch negated by offensive pass interference.
Bengals
WR: Unless something changes, we know exactly what the Bengals want to do. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are the two outside guys with Tyler Boyd in the slot. This week they ran three WR sets on pretty much every play so they all played a fairly full snap share. Boyd has been the odd man out for two WR sets when they go that route.
RB: Joe Mixon got every carry and no other running back played more than three snaps. Tough week on the ground but deployment doesn’t get better than that.
TE: CJ Uzomah is clearly the pass catching tight end with 28 routes run to five for Drew Sample. This issue for Uzomah is they have so many good pass catching options.
Bills
WR: Last week the top three WRs played virtually all the snaps - this week it was only two with Stefon Diggs (51) and Emmanuel Sanders (50). Cole Beasley started and played 39 snaps while Gabriel Davis played 21. They didn’t need to force the issue through the air in a blowout.
RB: After Zack Moss was a healthy scratch last week but he returned this week to score two touchdowns to one for Devin Singletary. The snap shares painted a different picture however as Singletary played 43 snaps (28 pass) to only 18 for Moss (8 pass). The game was out of hand so could have just been giving the backup work.
TE: Dawson Knox played a massive snap share this week - more than any of the WRs but that was likely due to the run heavy game script more than anything.
Browns
WR: Yeesh - already missing Odell Beckham Jr. and now Jarvis Landry is slated to miss multiple games. Not great, Bob. Odell is supposed to be back this week but it will likely be Donovan People-Jones, Rashard Higgins, and Anthony Schwarts playing bigger snap shares if he is out or limited. Given the usage so far, Peoples-Jones is most likely to play a full snap share of the bunch if just Jarvis is out.
RB: A bit of a departure from the norm this week. Typically Nick Chubb gets the bulk of the run work but they split pass work with Kareem Hunt often getting more pass snaps. This week they each got 13 carries but Nick Chubb (19 pass snaps) actually played far more on pass plays than Hunt (10). Interesting.
TE: Heavy multi-TE sets as usual and with the WR injuries they will only get heavier. Austin Hooper (42) and David Njoku (36) led the way in snaps with Hooper playing 21 pass plays to 15 for Njoku. Harrison Bryany only played 31 plays, 12 pass snaps but he made the most of them. This could become a guessing game but Hooper had the best deployment.
Buccaneers
WR: Chris Godwin led the charge in snaps once again followed by Mike Evans. Antonio Brown for the second game in a row has been used selectively, this time only playing 44.4% of the snaps. He’s the odd man out if they want to use two WR sets.
RB: Leonard Fournette split the snaps fairly evenly with Ronald Jones starting and playing 26 while Fournette played 31. It’s worth noting that Jones allowed a sack in pass blocking which has been an issue for him in the past. Leonard Fournette of course allowed a hurry himself so didn’t do much to prove he deserves that gig either. Gio Bernard has only played on pass plays this year so the game script did not call for much of him.
TE: Rob Gronkowski played a massive snap share and was the guy once again. Cameron Brate came on sporadically on pass plays and OJ Howard continues to be more of a blocking tight end.
Broncos
WR: The Broncos made it easy on us - with Jerry Jeudy out it was pretty clear they like Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick playing the outside roles with KJ Hamler in the slot. When Jeudy returns, Patrick and Hamler probably return to irrelevance but Patrick seems to have the better shot at maintaining snaps on the outside.
RB: We are getting a bit of clarity here - after a split down the middle last week, they both got 13 carries this week but Melvin Gordon played 27 pass snaps, Javonte Williams played 13.
TE: Noah Fant had two of the three things we like to see in terms of deployment. He played 53 snaps which we like. He played 31 pass plays and only blocked on one of them which we like. But he only played five of his snaps in the slot or out wide while playing 48 snaps in-line which we don’t like. We want these guys to be treated like WRs. The rest is good though.
Cardinals
WR: Same as last week - DeAndre Hopkins and AJ Green play the outside roles while Christian Kirk and Rondale Moore mix and match in the slot. Kirk once again played more pass plays (31) than Moore (24) but Moore’s explosiveness is evident and he could be in line for more work.
RB: Chase Edmonds played 29 pass plays and James Conner played 13. That’s the stat that’s inevitably going to matter if you are deciding between the two for whatever reason.
TE: Interesting week for Maxx Williams. Oddly enough, his alignment was worse than it was last week as, in week 1, he played 21 snaps at WR and this week he played only 10. But he managed to get 7 targets. This seems like a case where the defense simply did not give him enough respect so the Cardinals took what was given. And a third of his yards came on a pass that was deflected twice.
Cowboys
WR: Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb, pretty much every snap. Cedrick Wilson in the slot but coming out for two WR sets. Amari Cooper is reportedly banged up and could miss time so it will be interesting to see if someone like Noah Brown or rookie Simi Fehoko plays on the outside or if they go with Lamb and Wilson.
RB: Ezekiel Elliott played 44 snaps including 26 pass plays while Tony Pollard played 21, 8 pass plays. For now Zeke is still getting the better and safer deployment of the two while Pollard also continues to play special teams. Pollard has looked good though.
TE: Dalton Schultz played 45 snaps to 29 for Blake Jarwin but Jarwin ran 17 routes to only 16 for Schultz. They are just stepping on each other’s toes.
Chargers
WR: Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Jalen Guyton. Those are the guys. Keenan Allen plays all over, including the slot when all three are out there. The other two primarily play outside. Guyton continues to be one of the most heavily deployed and least utilized assets in the league but rookie Josh Palmer has not seemed to push for playing time.
RB: Austin Ekeler is looking like the guy we expected in the offense we expected (in terms of RB passing). That’s what Joe Lombardi likes and Ekeler ran 30 routes this week.
TE: Jared Cook is the guy and Donald Parham continues to be asked to block. Parham blocked on 22 of his 34 snaps while Cook only blocked on 8 of his 42.
Chiefs
WR: Tyreek Hill is obviously the big dog but Mecole Hardman managed to get himself a decent snap share. Demarcus Robinson was third with 30 snaps but simply not enough to matter more than a TD dependent play.
RB: CEH continues to grade out poorly in pass blocking, an issue that plagued him last year. It’s only a concern if there is someone else who can do it better but, on the plays where Darrell Williams does come in, they are mostly pass plays (11 of his 14 snaps in both weeks 1 and 2). CEH is still playing most of the snaps but something to monitor.
TE: Travis Kelce. That is all.
Colts
WR: Same as we saw last week - Michael Pittman and Zach Pascal are the guys playing the vast majority of the relevant pass plays. Parris Campbell is once again dealing with an injury and neither of Michael Strachan or Ashton Duhlin could capture a meaningful snap share.
RB: It’s the same split we described last week - Taylor gets most of the run work and then they split the pass work fairly evenly. Nyheim Hines is fairly boom/bust because of this and he’s more of just an annoyance to Taylor owners.
TE: Jack Doyle has separated himself from the other tight ends in terms of snaps. There is nothing exciting about the athleticism but he did play 21 snaps at WR with other guys banged up. If you are desperate he’s at least playing the snaps and running the routes.
Dolphins
WR: Nightmare week for the Dolphins losing their QB and getting blown out. DeVante Parker and Jaylen Waddle played the bulk of the snaps with Albert Wilson getting the third most but they leaned into the two TE sets this week, capping his upside.
RB: Myles Gaskin got the best deployment, especially playing 19 pass plays with 9 carries. Malcolm Brown, as usual for his career, had some strange usage. 16 snaps - 1 route, 4 pass blocking, 5 carries, 6 run blocking. Salvon Ahmed mixed in a little.
TE: It’s hard to say what the game plan would have been with Willer Fuller healthy but Mike Gesicki clearly stepped up this week playing a huge snap share and running 37 routes after only running 17 last week. We’ll have to monitor him moving forward to see if this usage is for real or was just matchup dependent.
Eagles
WR: DeVonta Smith and Jalen Reagor were the two outside guys. Quez Watkins had a couple explosive plays as the third man in but only ended up playing a ~50% snap share when all was said and done.
RB: Miles Sanders got the bulk of the work with Kenneth Gainwell spelling him when needed. Sanders got more carries and played more pass snaps though so for now it’s not a split backfield. The big concern is that Brandon Brooks is now hurt and he’s arguably the best run blocker in the league.
TE: Goedert played 38 snaps, Ertz played 37. Ertz ran more routes (19 vs. 16) but Goedert got more targets (2 vs. 1). As usual, Ertz played the better role for pass catching with 20 snaps at WR because Goedert is simply the better blocker. Just not a good situation, especially if Jalen Hurts is only going to complete half his passes.
Falcons
WR: Last week Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage played a lot of snaps but this week Gage split with Olamide Zaccheaus. The reality is that Kyle Pitts played 34 snaps at WR and he’s the WR2 there.
RB: Mike Davis led in both run and pass snaps but it was Cordarelle Patterson that made the biggest impact. Davis played 44 snaps in the backfield and Patterson only played 14 as 9 of his snaps came at WR.
TE: Hayden Hurst was the in-line tight end with Kyle Pitts playing a lot of snaps at WR and mixing in some in-line ones. It’s Pitts that you want.
Giants
WR: Sterling Shepard once again led the WRs in snaps while playing primarily out of the slot with 52 slot snaps. Kenny Golladay is the split end. The only question left here is what impact, if any, the return of Evan Engram might have.
RB: Saquon Barkley played 58 of 69 snaps. There’s no more limit so the question is only about effectiveness.
TE: Same as last week - until Evan Engram is back there is no fantasy relevant TE here. And even then there might not be.
Jaguars
WR: Same as last week - Marvin Jones Jr. and DJ Chark on the outside, Laviska Shenault Jr. primarily in the slot. Marvin Jones and Chark are at least running high aDot routes - Shenault with an aDot of 5.6 this week is playing close to home. Shenault is banged up so monitor his status.
RB: James Robinson led in snaps, carries, and pass snaps. Carlos Hyde is just a change of pace guy.
TE: James O’Shaughnessy saw great deployment last week but suffered a high ankle sprain almost immediately. Luke Farrell stepped into that pass catching TE role and ran 22 routes, playing more snaps than Chris Manhertz. Farrell could be a random DFS dart throw while James O is out - this whole offense feels like one big random dart throw.
Jets
WR: Jamison Crowder was out once again so we still have questions. Corey Davis and Elijah Moore are the two guys playing the majority of the snaps as of now but does that hold when Crowder returns?
RB: In classic Mike Shanahan coaching-tree fashion, Robert Saleh went with the “hot hand” approach with Tevin Coleman hardly playing and Ty Johnson and Michael Carter each getting 12 carries and running 15 routes. Nightmare.
TE: Tyler Kroft played more than any other tight end but blocked on nine of his pass snaps. Not relevant.
Lions
WR: With Tyrell Williams out, Quintez Cephus played the biggest snap share with Khalif Raymond on the other side and Amon-Ra St. Brown in the slot. Cephus is the most interesting - ARSB is just not playing enough snaps unless he also learns to play flanker. He’s played 79 snaps in the slot but only 13 out wide this season.
RB: D’Andre Swift snagged a bigger snap share this week - Swift played 36 snaps and Jamaal Williams played 22. They mixed and matched for a lot of the game but Swift was the chosen one for the two minute drill when you have less chance to sub.
TE: TJ Hockenson continues to be the man in this offense.
Packers
WR: Much better day this week for this team. Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Allen Lazard are the three primary receivers. MVS played primarily a straight line field stretcher role making him difficult to trust.
RB: Aaron Jones as an absolute workhorse this week which is what they paid him to do. AJ Dillon played primarily once the game was in hand.
TE: Marcedes Lewis and Dominique Dafney technically played more snaps than Robert Tonyan in the blow out but Tonyan ran double the routes of the others (22 vs. 10 vs. 10). Tonyan continues to be a TD dependent option.
Panthers
WR: Same note as last week because it’s the same story. DJ Moore and Robby Anderson played the relevant pass snaps. Terrace Marshall played slot but was out for two WR sets, capping his upside.
RB: CMC. That is all.
TE: The worst kind of split - Ian Thomas plays a ton of snaps but he pretty much only blocks so he only ran 15 routes on 52 snaps. Dan Arnold ran 18 routes on only 22 snaps. Neither relevant.
Patriots
WR: Jakobi Meyers and Nelson Agholor are the top dogs. No one else really plays enough considering the two tight ends but Kendrick Bourne would be third.
RB: It’s been the same backfield split for 20 years so why stop now? James White gets most of the pass snaps, Damien Harris gets most of the run snaps.
TE: Jonnu Smith is dealing with a hip injury so he played a limited snap share - tough to judge him while he’s banged up but they used him primarily in the slot. Hunter Henry had good alignment to a certain degree on one hand (22 snaps at WR) but he was asked to block on 5 of 30 pass plays which is a little too high. This game was well in hand for the most part though so the Pats didn’t need to go crazy throwing the football. The Patriots have some shootout matchups on the schedule with the Buccaneers, Cowboys etc. looming.
Raiders
WR: Bryan Edwards and Henry Ruggs are the two guys playing the closest to a full share - Hunter Renfrow can be dropped to waivers if he’s going to continue to play half the game.
RB: Despite Drake playing the majority of the snaps, Peyton Barber got 13 carries to 7 for Drake confirming our worst nightmare - that this backfield is going to be split no matter what.
TE: Darren Waller 61 of 66 snaps, no other weapon played more than 50.
Rams
WR: Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods each essentially played the entire game while Van Jefferson was close to it playing 54 of 59 snaps. No clue why they paid DeSean Jackson $4.5 million just to hang out.
RB: Darrell Henderson has been the guy but bruised ribs called Sony Michel into action. The scary thing about “bruised ribs” is that that’s just what they call it when no bones are broken. But it can be anything from a bruise to torn cartilage and muscle between the ribs - which you can imagine is painful to play football with. Michel can only be utilized if Henderson is OUT.
TE: Once again Tyler Higbee played every snap though his deployment was not nearly as good as he was asked to block on 7 of his 32 pass plays. That’s 21.9% which is essentially what we saw last year. He should be better than last year overall but that hurts upside.
Ravens
WR: As we said last week, Sammy Watkins is the clear split end and he played 70 of 76 snaps. Marquise Brown is the flanker who played most pass plays but came out for some of more obvious run plays. Devin Duvernay is the slot guy but they use too many tight ends and fullbacks to trust him.
RB: Ty’Son Williams got the better deployment than Latavius Murray in terms of both run and pass snaps. He’s the guy you want for now.
TE: Mark Andrews played more overall snaps and the same number of pass snaps as Hollywood Brown. He did not pass block once and he lined up at WR 28 times. Start Andrews each week with confidence.
Saints
WR: What a strange week for the Saints. Only 44 offensive snaps because of the game script. Callaway once again was the only player who played a meaningful number of them.
RB: Alvin Kamara is still the guy.
TE: Adam Trautman played a huge snap share last week - this week it was closer to 50. Meanwhile Juwan Johnson went from 12 snaps to 18 this week. More importantly, Johnson ran 16 routes to only 11 for Trautman.
Seahawks
WR: D’Wayne Eskridge split snaps last week with Freddie Swain but was ruled out with a concussion. In a typical week, we won’t likely see so much Freddie Swayne. Lockett and Metcalf are the guys you want.
RB: Chris Carson got most of the carries but did cede a few pass snaps to Travis Homer. Carson is the only viable guy.
TE: Last week the tight ends split fairly evenly but with Dwayne Eskridge out, Gerald Everett was clearly the preferred option. Everett got 13 snaps in the slot, some of which he likely picked up due to the rookie’s absence.
Steelers
WR: JuJu Smith-Schuster once again led all WRs in snaps followed by Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool. Diontae Johnson however only played one fewer pass snap than Juju and got banged up at the end of the game. When everyone is healthy, Diontae and Juju seem like the preferred guys.
RB: Najee Harris played every snap last week and 53 of 56 this week. Locked in.
TE: The tables turned this week to a certain degree and Pat Freiermuth played more snaps than Eric Ebron. Though Ebron ran 20 routes and Freiermuth ran 23 so it’s still not enough. Might take an injury for one guy to emerge.
Texans
WR: With Nico Collins getting hurt early, Brandin Cooks and Chris Conley were the clear two guys on the outside. Andre Roberts mixed in the slot but they used way too many multi-TE sets for him to get a full snap share.
RB: “Mark Ingram had a huge day on the ground but David Johnson quietly played more pass plays than Ingram (18 to 8). The game script will often call for more David Johnson.”
The above quote is what we said last week. This week in a negative game script David Johnson played 26 snaps to 19 for Mark Ingram. Johnson is the passing down back and he’ll see more usage in games requiring more passing. Which should be all of them.
TE: With the script flipped, it was actually Jordan Akins who played more pass snaps than Pharaoh Brown and ran more routes (19 vs. 12). It doesn’t help Brown that Antony Auclair, the blocking TE, exited with an eye injury. Not sure of the severity as of now but the Texans reverted him to the practice squad on Monday.
Titans
WR: AJ Brown and Julio Jones are the guys - too many multi-tight end sets for any other WR.
RB: Derrick Henry might have taken things to a new level, even for him. Forget the touchdowns - the pass snaps are what interest us. He caught 6 passes on 22 pass snaps after Jeremy McNichols threatened those snaps last week. 6 catches is a career high for Henry.
TE: With Anthony Firkser inactive with a knee injury, the Texans used a mix of blocking tight ends in a pass catching capacity. They ran 48 pass plays with Geoff Swaim running 18 routes, MyCole Pruitt running 19 routes, and Tommy HUson running 7 routes. None of that should interest you whatsoever.
Vikings
WR: Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson played their full snap shares on the outside while KJ Osborn made some noise in the slot. It might be hard to trust Osborn if he’s only going to play 24 of 35 pass plays however (Thielen played all 35 and Jefferson 34).
RB: Dalvin Cook is the man and Alexander Mattison is just a handcuff. Cook briefly left with an ankle injury but returned. Something to think about if Mattison is out there.
TE: Tyler Conklin played a lot of snaps but only ran 23 routes because he was mostly blocking.
Washington Football Team
WR: Ron Rivera has historically run the most consolidated snap share of any coach and he continued that with Terry McLaurin playing every single snap and Dyami Brown playing 51 of 55. The third WR was Adam Humphries out of the slot but he was the odd man out when they wanted to use other formations.
RB: Antonio Gibson made huge strides this week as he played 15 pass snaps to 16 for JD McKissic (last year McKissic dominated the pass work and caught 100 targets). Gibson is in for a bigger role this year it seems which is good for fantasy gamers.
TE: Logan Thomas played every single snap and he played 32 snaps at WR. Ideal usage for a tight end for fantasy purposes.