What’s up FANation!?!  Officially, we are just three days away from the start of the NFL season, which of course, means we are also just three days away from the start of our fantasy football leagues! That also means we are going to start pumping out weekly content to help you crush your league mates. One of those articles is NFL Snap Counts, a piece I covered last year, and am excited for another year of breaking them down on a weekly basis.

Snap counts are very important to be aware of, as it can give us insight into who is building playing time or who may soon be irrelevant in fantasy. I am sure you crushed your draft, but things happen and finding gems on the wire is a crucial part of building a championship team. These players who are wire gems don’t come out of nowhere; there are signs that we can use to unearth them before anyone else. We want to roster guys who play A LOT; because playing a lot typically means more touches, which means more fantasy points!

Beginning with Week 1, the piece will be a general breakdown of snap counts around the league from some of the more intriguing situations that we need to be aware of. For example, the Broncos backfield --  how much Royce Freeman plays will be a vital piece of information for us. There are many situations like this around the league, such as the Browns backfield, the Colts, Packers and the 49ers just to name a few. There will be plenty of situations to break down and the more aware you are of how much each guy sees the field, the further ahead of your competition you will be. Week 1 is one of the most important weeks for snap count information because it jump-starts us into what we can expect moving forward. Sure, NFL coaches have fed us their preseason rhetoric but until we actually see how they use their guys in the game, what they say only means so much. The old adage of “show me, don’t tell me.”

After Week 1, the picture becomes much clearer and we have a game to base our weekly changes of snap count totals off of. While we will still break down some of the more interesting situations around the league, we will also add sections to the article for snap count risers and fallers. Trends will come into the picture and tracking who is seeing their playing time increase is important, as is who is losing playing time. If a player starts to have their playing time increased, it may be someone that peaks our interest and becomes someone we want to take a chance on at the end of our roster. More specifically, this pertains to rookies or second-year players who are still adjusting to the league and have to slowly gain the trust of their coaches and teammates.

Another section of the piece to be added, possibly as soon as Week 2, is “notable snap counts.” This section will focus on how much certain players are playing in place of injured players. Whenever a player is going to miss time due to injury, especially if it’s a multi-week injury, it’s an absolute must to know what players are gaining snap counts in place of the injured player. Sure, we know who the coaches are likely going to use, but how much they use each player is crucial. Does the injury replacement player take over the same workload as the injured player, or does he gain playing time but operate in a time share?

You can expect this analysis to come out on Wednesdays, so be sure to check it out. If anyone has any thoughts on anything else they would like to see added as far as snap counts go, you can send me a message on twitter @JustinVreeland, in the live chat, or leave a comment on any of my posts. Good luck this year FANation, though you won’t need it since you’re already a part of the #FAmily.