NFL Snap Counts Breakdown: Week 9

The year of the backup quarterback rolls on and continues to throw curveballs at us as two incumbent starters return (one of which has only attempted eight passes for his team), another long time starter gets benched, and yet another solidify his job for the rest of the year with an IR move.  We’re here to read deep into the snap count data and tell you what you can expect from the position players regardless of who is under center so you can have some peace of mind in these uncertain times.  So let’s get to it!

49ers

• In previous iterations of the snap count report we had not included Ross Dwelley for the 49ers as his profile and usage were consistent with a blocking tight end which is typically irrelevant to us for fantasy purposes.  For instance, last week he blocked on 27 plays and ran seven routes – that’s practically playing offensive tackle.  However, this week with the injury to Kittle, he actually ran 22 routes and only pass blocked on two pass plays (Levine Toiliolo seemed to resume Dwelley’s pass blocking role).  If Kittle does miss any time, this indicates to us that Dwelley could fill that ever important role but it would be difficult to trust him right off the bat and he likely won’t be nearly as effective. 
• Emmanuel Sanders has really shined since arriving in San Fran and it’s clear they believe him to head and shoulders above the other receivers.  Of the remaining lot, Deebo Samuel is at least playing enough snaps to be worth considering. 

Bears

• 44 offensive snaps is the lowest total for the Bears this year and one of the lower totals for any team thus far.  Typically an offensive performance this lacking would not provide much fantasy value but David Montgomery was able to salvage his day with a couple touchdowns.  For now Allen Robinson and David Montgomery remain the only two fantasy viable starters though I would monitor Taylor Gabriel in case this team ever figures anything out.  He’s clearly the guy opposite Allen Robinson when they are actually playing offense. 

Bengals

• BYE

Bills

• The Bills cruised in this one against the lowly Redskins but one interesting note is that Devin Singletary played double the snaps of Frank Gore in an offensive game-scripted game which we have yet to see.  Typically Singletary plays the passing down role while Gore plays the running down role which would have given us the reverse splits to this.  Perhaps the Bills were just giving Gore some rest in going into the bye or maybe Singletary is actually carving himself out a bigger role.  Certainly something to watch.
• Other notable numbers: Dawson Knox drastically outsnapped Tyler Kroft while Isaiah McKenzie played a good chunk of snaps at wide receiver as well.  Again, it could just be the case of the Bills having the game in hand and giving the young players some extra experience. 

Broncos

• The runningback snaps were split fairly evenly once again though it’s worth noting that Royce Freeman allowed a pressure and a sack in pass blocking duty.  This has been the one thing keeping him on the field and Lindsay off it but Lindsay was able to pass block twice uneventfully.  If Lindsay keeps running the way he does and Freeman faulters in his pass blocking duty it could open the door for Lindsay to get a bigger snap share.  
• Despite a few painfully visible drops this year, Noah Fant is going to be fantasy relevant simply based on the lack of other options in the passing game.  His usage has been ideal for a receiving tight end and he ran the second most routes this week behind only Courtland Sutton so he should be owned anywhere he’s available. 

Browns

• Ricky Seals-Jones ran 19 routes on only 22 snaps while Demetrius Harris ran 25 routes on 51, clearly indicating they prefer RSJ for passing downs.  That being said, Seals-Jones left the game with a knee injury so perhaps moving forward the Browns will opt to use Stephen Carlson as the blocker and Harris could run more routes.  Harris is a nightmare situation start only. 
• Interesting to note that Dontell Hillard played 24 pass plays this week while Nick Chubb also played 24 pass plays – something they have not done in recent weeks.  With Kareem Hunt returning this week, perhaps they are preparing the offense for a new shared workload?  As much as we would dislike it for fantasy purposes, it might make sense for the 2-6 Browns to not run their star player into the ground in what increasingly feels like a lost season. 

Buccaneers

• In our Week 8 article we outlined how we predicted things would go in upcoming weeks for Bucs wide receivers.  And was we laid out, the Seahawks do not shadow and Mike Evans thrived.  The Cardinals and Saints do so we may see upticks for Chris Godwin in those games.  Breshard Perriman was only a factor this week because it was an overtime shootout but he’s not a viable play. 
• Ronald Jones seems to have made big strides in distancing himself from Peyton Barber but Dare Ogunbawale should continue to factor into the passing game. 
• Tanner Hudson played the OJ Howard role which, in Bruce Arians offense, is useless for fantasy.  The value of the Bucs tight end position at this point is basically a coin flip on whether Cameron Brate scores or not.

Cardinals

• Fantasy enigma Kenyan Drake has been a questionable start all year long on the Dolphins and, without knowing his role on limited practice time, he was a questionable start that ended up going off this week.  With David Johnson potentially returning next week, he will fittingly once again be a questionable start. 
• At this point we know that Christian Kirk and Larry Fitzgerald are locked in starters but, beyond that, the Cardinals continue to experiment at wide receiver.  The last couple weeks it was Damiere Byrd and Trent Sherfield , this week we saw more KeeSean Johnson and Pharoah Cooper.  Andy Isabella also made the most of his limited snaps with a huge 88 yard touchdown.  I think the long term plan post Larry Fitzgerald is to feature Kirk and Isabella in the slots with the injured Hakeem Butler on the outside leaving the rest of the players to fight over the remaining outside receiver spot.  That player may not even be on the team at this point. 

Chargers

• Regardless of how many snaps the third wide receiver gets (this time it was Andre Patton getting a pretty big share) the three fantasy receivers on this team are Keenan Allen , Mike Williams , and Hunter Henry .  With two pass catching backs it’s not realistic to support more than that. 
• Melvin Gordon fans rejoice as he finally came out and gave you a game with some semblance of what we had expected, providing a couple touchdowns, a couple catches, and over 100 yards.  He and Ekeler are both in the RB2/flex conversation based on their usage.

Chiefs

• LeSean McCoy had a brutal late fumble against the Packers last week that may have cost them the game and he seemingly paid for it this week being behind both Williamses in snaps and carries.  Will be interesting to see whether this is a permanent move or simply old school punishment. 
• The Chiefs deployed more two tight end sets to combat the Vikings pass rush to the detriment of Demarcus Robinson and Mecole Hardman.  It will be certainly worth remembering this with Joey Bosa and the Chargers and the blitz-heavy Patriots on the upcoming schedule. 

Colts

• Just when Parris Campbell flashed a bit of that speed and athleticism that got him drafted in the second round, he was taken away from us again with a broken hand.  With TY Hilton also out, Zach Pascal seems to be your guy followed by Chester Rogers .  If you held Deon Cain this whole time in dynasty and he once again doesn’t do anything this week despite opportunities provided via injuries to TY Hilton, Devin Funchess , Parris Campbell , and Daurice Fountain , I implore you, it’s time to let go. 
• The Maron Mack show rolls on and, with all the injuries plaguing this team, expect a heavy dosage of him moving forward – especially if Brian Hoyer is playing quarterback. 

Cowboys

• With everyone healthy coming out of the bye week, the Cowboys went right back to what they want to do which, conveniently, is also exactly what we want to see for fantasy purposes.  They are running out a consolidated snap share that sees three wide receivers, one tight end, and one runningback seeing 75%+ of the snaps and two of the receivers are getting most of the targets.  We couldn’t pick a better set up. 
• Despite his touchdown, Blake Jarwin is not a startable fantasy tight end.  He played only 26 snaps and blocked on 16 of them. 

Dolphins

• This game was a certainly a rollercoaster of emotion. If you are a Phins fan I’m not sure how you feel about it.  On one hand, the team looked good and Preston Williams and Mike Gesicki made some of the big plays that they had not been making earlier in the year.  On the other hand, you won the game when you are actively trying to tank.  But then Preston Williams got hurt and Mark Walton got suspended so it should be easier to tank moving forward?  Either way, the one thing we can all agree on is no one wanted to find out that the injury for Preston Williams is an ACL tear. 
• Kalen Ballage will be a big add though his play has been excruciating thus far this season.  The big fantasy winner for us here is Mike Gesicki who had ideal usage all year but finally got a chance to show what he can do.  In a barren landscape at tight end he could be an add due to the personnel change, similar to Noah Fant.  The targets have to go somewhere and DeVante Parker can only absorb so many. 

Eagles

• Big news here is that DeSean Jackson underwent surgery and is done for the season now.  Based on passed iterations of this series and what we’ve seen both in the snap totals and on-field, Mack Hollins will be the one to step up in his place getting those snaps.  Alshon Jeffrey also left the game though his injury is not deemed to be serious but anytime missed by him would mean more snaps for JJ Arcega-Whiteside at split end. 
• Despite playing one more snap, Dallas Goedert only ran 30 routes to 43 for Ertz.  As we discussed last week, it is still the Ertz show unless extreme matchups dictate they need to turn to Goedert. 
• Same story with the running backs as usual – Howard was featured in the running game and Sanders featured on pass downs.  Classic Eagles RBBC. 

Falcons

• BYE

Giants

• A common theme for this week was players playing very few snaps yet scoring a touchdown and this game was no exception as Cody Latimer scored the only offensive touchdown despite only playing 11 snaps.  Don’t be fooled by the shiny points play – Golden Tate and Darius Slay ton dominated the wide receiver snaps and even Bennie Fowler played four times as much as Latimer.  Given the prominence of Engram and Barkley in the passing game, Tate is likely your only real option startable WR option unless Sterling Shepard shows us something when he returns. 

Jaguars

• If you are trying to defend your starting job from a guy who got $45 million guaranteed, putting up three points against a division rival ain’t it.  Gardner Minshew has been benched for Nick Foles .
• In the absence of Dede Westbrook , Keelan Cole got the start.  Outside of Chark and Dede it is difficult to trust anyone.
• Much like we saw with the early goings of Noah Fant, Josh Oliver saw good usage with not many targets.  Of his 30 plays he ran 29 routes so he’s clearly lined up for a passing role.  He’s worth a speculative add in deep leagues to see what he looks like with Foles who was obviously able to feed the ball to Ertz in Philly.

Jets

• For the second straight week this team showed a highly consolidated snap share which we love to see for fantasy. Wide outs are Anderson, Crowder, and DT and your running back is Le’Veon Bell (assuming the knee injury is minor).  Only person who could crash this party is Chris Herndon but we already outline why we are concerned that he may just spend most of his time blocking in Gase’s offense anyway. 

Lions

• With Tra Carson to IR, Ty Johnson may get that crack that we had all hoped but it seems to have lost a bit of it’s luster after them team starting a guy off the street and using another back in the passing game.  Still, running backs are hard to come by so add him if you can. 
• TJ Hockenson was used to block less often than the even split we have been seeing with Jesse James but it was still too much as he blocked on nearly half his snaps.  Early in the year we saw him steak slot snaps from Danny Amendola but it seems those have been reclaimed.  The targets were good but his usage simply isn’t ideal.

Packers

• Not what Packers fans wanted to see but at least they got Davante Adams back.  And the natural order returned with Adams and MVS on the outsides with Geronimo Allison in the slot.  Brighter days ahead.
• Aaron Jones fans may have thought a four touchdown game would have solidified the job as his but it’s clear that Matt Lafleur wants to run a two back backfield.  Jones still got the build of the running down work but they split pass routes 20 a piece. 

Panthers

• Ah yes, old reliable.  Jarius Wright and Chris Manhertz had more of an even split than usual but that doesn’t matter much to us as they aren’t on our fantasy radar.  What matters is the four guys we care about all played more than 78% of the snaps and three of them played between ~90% and 99%.  Beautiful. 
• I am usually opposed to stashing pure handcuffs as I prefer handcuff plusses that offer standalone value as well if you are in a bye week pinch but at this point, given the teams incredibly consolidated snaps and reliance on the running game, I am stashing Reggie Bonnafon in leagues with deep benches and considering it in shallow ones where I have a comfortable lead.  Its late in the year so we know what most guys are and any RB in this role could be a league winner.  We have another that we are going to recommend later on as well.

Patriots

• The mighty Patriots looked  bit mortal this week but at least the offense is taking shape.  Edelman, Sanu, Dorsett, and Watson all played pretty much every snap and should be locked in moving forward.
• The concern here is for Sony Michel owners who saw his season low in snaps.  We may be able to chalk it up as negative game script but this team has a tough slate moving forward and, if they are just going to abandon the run, you are in big trouble if you have Sony at your flex. 

Raiders

• In a surprise twist, Zay Jones played the most snaps of any position player on the team.  Did he do much when he was out there? No, but the fact that he played nearly the whole game and got four targets should mean something in deep leagues.  It’s just hard to say whether this offense can support more than two of Waller, Williams, Renfrow, and Jones – especially playing Jon Gruden Smash Mouth Football the way they have been.  I’d stick to Waller for now with Williams in emergencies. 

Rams

• BYE

Ravens

• Teams that use a “passing tight end” and a “blocking tight end” could learn a thing or two about deception from the Ravens this week.  All year they used Nick Boyle to block then brought Mark Andrews in to catch passes.  So what did they do this week? Nick Boyle five catches for 27 and a touchdown.  Very well played long con that teams could take advantage of.  Looking at you Panthers. 
• Beyond that it was your typical mish mash of different formations, blocking wide receivers, running quarterbacks, and everything in between.  This offense being difficult to figure out is great for winning real football games and terrible for winning fantasy games.  Only Lamar Jackson and Mark Ingram can truly be trusted but Mark Andrews is still worth a start if you don’t have any other tight end option.  And we love Andrews as a player but 34% of the snaps doesn’t allow for any consistency. 

Redskins

• This team has only run more than 60 offensive snaps one time all year and they are averaging 46 snaps a game over the last 3 games.  The only consolation is that Terry McLaurin has played every single snap during that span so he is the only one startable in fantasy football – and just barely.  An offense running les than 50 snaps can’t support much more than that unless they have an absolutely dominant defense getting turnovers and short fields every time.

Saints

• BYE

Seahawks

• Well we projected after week 7 that Jacob Hollister could resume the Will Dissly role then he came out in week 8 and blocked a ton so we wrote him off.  Then he came out this week and scored two touchdowns which goes to show – never take the loss after the first lap of the race.  Stick with the process. 
• Chris Carson continued to get all the work despite fumbling twice and losing one which has been his only issue.  Turnovers are game killers so they may still adjust but its hard to say he’s not the best guy in the backfield.

Steelers

• This team has battled some brutal injuries this year but is still pushing on in what is clearly an attempt by this front office to save their jobs.  Based on the trades they’ve made, I think ownership said “do what you need to do to win or your out” so I don’t expect them to hold back anytime soon, especially after beating a tough Colts team.
• Trey Edmunds got the start and the bulk of the rushing work but Jaylen Samuels stole the show drastically out-snapping him and catching 13 passes.  Against a tough Rams defense expect the Jaylen Samuels show again.  
• Juju and Vance are startable and Diontae Johnson remains on the fringe in leagues where you are desperate. 

Texans

• This one was over from the start and the Texans handled in the way you’d expect in a blowout – with the backfield.  Carlos Hyde had a monster day and Duke Johnson led pass catchers as well. 
• Fells and Akins continued to, annoyingly, split the snaps fairly evenly.  Fells played more snaps but both ran exactly 23 routes.  Much like the Colts situation (which we saw unfold last year) if one were to get hurt, the other could become an important fantasy asset. 

Titans

• If you are wondering why Jonnu Smith hasn’t truly been unlocked, we told you what might happened in our week 7 article which is the use of Anthony Firkser in a primary passing role similar to Cameron Brate .  And once again he played 20 snaps, 19 of them passes, like last week.  It’s not enough for Firkser to be fantasy relevant but it is just enough to hurt Jonnu Smith which is the wort possible situation for fantasy gamers. 
• Tannehill has clearly provided some boost to this passing game but we had hoped the offense would continue to run through Corey Davis and AJ Brown.  Spreading the ball out to the likes of Adam Humphries and Dion Lewis is not what we want to see – we want to see him forcing it to the top two options, like a bad quarterback should.  We want our QB to either be A. good enough to be a QB1 in fantasy or B. bad enough to force it to one or two guys over and over (see Jamies Winston or Eli Manning ).  The worst thing they could do is be a mediocre game manager who spreads the ball around, like we see here. 
• At least Derrick Henry is great. 

Vikings

• Adam Thielen returned and tweaked his hamstring once again.  If he is out this week, OlaBisi Johnson is back on the menu in deep leagues.
• Irv Smith Jr. continues to have solid pass friendly usage so this may be your last chance to acquire him in dynasty leagues.  If Thielen’s absence is extended or one of Diggs, Thielen, or Rudolph hits the IR then he could become relevant in seasonal leagues.
• As we alluded to under the Panthers section, at this point Alexander Mattison is likely worth a stash.  Ameer Abdullah once again played eight snaps on offense and 24 on special teams.  If anything were to happen to Dalvin (god forbid) then Mattison would become a high end RB2 almost immediately as he’s been there, he knows the offense, and the desperately want to run.  Like I said before, you don’t usually have the luxury to stash guys that are unstartable without an injury so make sure your benches are deep or you are comfortably looking at a playoff spot but this is one player that could be a power keg if something were to happen (and Dalvin has battled injuries in the past, as much as we hate to say it).