After so much turmoil and crazy news during the week, the actual football this week felt like a bit of a let down didn’t it? I guess that’s what happens when a bunch of the news results in star players not playing like Derrick Henry, Aaron Rodgers, Kyler Murray, Calvin Ridley etc. Anyway, there is still a lot of helpful info to be gleaned - especially in the event there is an injury down the road - so let’s get into it.
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: It took a pretty winding road but we’ve sort of arrived at the spot we had thought we’d be at to start the season. The two fantasy relevant WRs are Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. No one else beyond that.
RB: Elijah Mitchell owners can relax a bit - he’s clearly the guy here in a potent rushing attack. Start him until things change.
TE: George Kittle was not really eased in like we expected - he played a huge snap share and was heavily involved. Kittle is BACK.
Bears
WR: We shouldn’t have to write this one each week honestly. It’s Mooeny and Robinson getting the full workload. Marquise Goodwin is the next closest but he’s primarily a field stretcher.
RB: Well, good news for David Montgomery owners. Not for anyone that started Khalil Herbert. Monty essentially took his full role right back.
TE: We’ve been preaching this all year long - Cole Kmet has great usage but just needs the team to throw the ball more. They threw 29 times which isn’t even that much (but a lot for this team) and you saw the results. Kmet ran 32 routes this week which is more than Allen Robinson even.
Bengals
WR: Same as always - Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins on the outside, Tyler Boyd in the slot.
RB: Another great week for Mixon complete with good usage. He playing more pass snaps and run snaps than Samaje Perine. Be happy with what you got.
TE: CJ Uzomah played a lot of snaps but he only ran 29 of 50 routes. His upside is capped unless someone gets hurt. He did have six targets the one time Tee Higgins was out.
Bills
WR: We pretty much said this was the case last week but, despite what the box score shows, this team is consistent in what they do. Emmanuel Sanders and Stefon Diggs play the most snaps (Emmanuel Sanders has now led the WRs in snaps four games in a row). Beasley plays the slot and Gabriel Davis is the next man in for four-wide.
RB: Zack Moss has had the lead job for most of the year but he was ruled out with a concussion. Devin Singletary becomes and interesting start if Moss were to miss time.
TE: Tommy Sweeney is playing the Dawson Knox role until Knox gets back but the problem is that Sweeney isn’t Knox. Even Knox was a bit TD dependent in that role.
Browns
WR: It’s a post Odell world so this is an important one. And the results were pretty clear. The three WRs are going to be Donovan Peoples-Jones, Anthony Schwartz, and Jarvis Landry. If they go two WR sets, it should be DPJ and Landry.
RB: Nick Chubb is the man and D’Ernest Johnson is just the backup. Johnson is not getting the full Kareem Hunt treatment.
TE: If we’ve said it once we’ve said it nine weeks in a row now. No tight end on this team runs enough routes. Hooper ran 13, Njoku ran 11, Bryant ran 7. What is that?
Buccaneers
BYE
Broncos
WR: You wouldn’t believe it from the box score but Courtland Sutton outsnapped everyone here. That said, a lot of those snaps were run plays that Patrick and Jeudy were not in on. Despite the huge disparity in snaps, Sutton ran 31 routes while Patrick ran 29 and Jeudy 28.
RB: Seemed like much of the same - both players playing but Melvin playing a little more. Worth noting however that Melvin Gordon did allow a sack and they split the pass snaps evenly.
TE: At least we found out that, if Noah Fant is out, Albert Okwuegbunam is going to get that full role. He played more snaps than any WR other than Sutton.
Cardinals
WR: With Hopkins and AJ Green out we got a good look at what this team would be. First off, Christian Kirk is clearly the guy playing 67 of 70 snaps, 52 of which came out wide. He had yet to play more than 8 snaps out wide in any game. The other two WRs were Rondale Moore in the slot and Antoine Wesley out wide opposite of Kirk.
RB: An injury to Chase Edmonds meant a full day for James Conner and he took advantage. With Edmonds missing time we should see more Eno Benjamin. Would be fun to maybe see Rondale Moore get some of those creative snaps as well.
TE: Zach Ertz had to get up to speed quickly because he was thrown into the fire with the injuries. Now we know he’s capable of a full snap share.
Cowboys
WR: Amari and Lamb were banged up coming in and, when you look at the snaps for guys like Noah Brown, Malik Turner, Cedrick Wilson, it was clear that they weren’t going to risk further injury in a blow out.
RB: Zeke left the game briefly with a banged up knee which let Tony Pollard get a little bigger slice of the pie than usual. It was a contusion and not ligament damage or anything so Zeke should be fine.
TE: With Blake Jarwin out it is all systems go for Dalton Schultz. Sean McKeon played a meaningless blocking role.
Chargers
WR: The buy low window for Keenan Allen is officially closed. In the two weeks since we suggested to buy him he’s been the WR2 overall. He and Mike Willams play every snap, no one else plays enough snaps. They used too many two WR sets.
RB: Austin Ekeler is the only RB that matters in this group.
TE: Oddly, blocking tight end Stephen Anderson led all tight ends in snaps. But we care about routes. Jared Cook - 23, Donald Parham, 15, Stephen Anderson, 13.
Chiefs
WR: It’s not looking like we are going to get a consistent WR2 at this point. It’s basically Tyreek or no one.
RB: Derrick Gore seems like just a flash in the pan as this week Jerrick McKinnon outsnapped him but Darrell Williams outsnaped everyone in all phases.
TE: Travis. Kelce.
Colts
WR: Same as usual. Michael Pittman and Zach Pascal played the full game. No one else played enough to be worth adding.
RB: Jonathan Taylor has run away with the bulk of this job, Hines gets half the pass plays and a couple carries.
TE: Classic. More snaps for Doyle, couple more routes for Mo (21) than Doyle (17). Good way to make both irrelevant.
Dolphins
WR: With DeVante Parker out it was Jaylen Waddle and Mack Hollins that paced the WRs. The third WR in for all intents and purposes was Mike Gesicki.
RB: Myles Gaskins seems to have captured that entire role. Kudos to those who hung onto him.
TE: Gesicki got 54 snaps at WR, 5 in-line. Durham Smythe and Adam Shaheen are the actual tight ends.
Eagles
WR: This is the first game in awhile DeVonta Smith didn’t lead in snaps but he is still the focal point. Quez Watkins actually led. Jalen Reagor played half the snaps.
RB: Boston Scott and Jordan Howard got the bulk of the work. We expected Kenneth Gainwell to get more pass down work but Scott played 11 pass plays to 8 for Gainwell. None of them got targets anyway.
TE: Good deployment for Goedert - full snap share and 15 slot snaps. They are using him all over with Ertz gone.
Falcons
WR: No Ridley for a few games since he’s on the NFI list. Russell Gage and Taje Sharpe are the WRs getting full shares. No one else does because of Kyle Pitts and Cordarelle Patterson.
RB: The split continues - the combined snap total for these two will always be higher than the overall total as they do end up on the field together.
TE: Kyle Pitts played 29 snaps at WR, 15 in-line. Hayden Hurst played the remaining in-line snaps.
Giants
WR: Weird week for their WRs. They all played exactly 31 of 56 snaps and ran 21 routes (“they all” being Kenny Golladay, Darius Slayton, and Kadarius Toney). That’s annoying for fantasy.
RB: Saquon is expected back to take the full role much like David Montgomery did from Khalil Herbert.
TE: Unlike the WRs, Evan Engram played a ton of snaps and ran routes on 26 of 28 pass plays. He’s a solid if low upside start.
Jaguars
WR: Marvin Jones and Laviska Shenault are the outside WRs with Agnew playing a partial snap share from the slot. Shenault has had a tough time adjusting to the outside.
RB: Carlos Hyde is clearly the guy until James Robinson returns.
TE: Dan Arnold is looking pretty darn good out there. He played 18 snaps at WR again. He’s the best bet to be this year’s Logan Thomas.
Jets
WR: Elijah Moore showed up in a BIG way this week - hopefully he can maintain this snap share. The problem is, Corey Davis should be back soon which makes it crowded there with Crowder, Moore, Mims, and even Keelan Cole.
RB: Michael Carter is the guy in the run game but he split pass snaps (32 for Carter) with Ty Johnson (27).
TE: With Tyler Kroft injured, Ryan Griffin got the gig and actually ran a decent number of routes (34 was the same as Denzel Mims and only three fewer than Elijah Moore). It would need to be a very deep league to consider him.
Lions
BYE
Packers
WR: Adams and Lazard led the way with full snap shares, next up were MVS and Cobb. There are rumors that Odell is interested in joining this crew...
RB: Aaron Jones is getting more work in both the run and pass game. He’s the guy. AJ Dillon is just a desperation play.
TE: With Tonyan out they used more four WR sets than a true pass catching TE. Routes run were Dafney - 9, Degura 8, Lewis 6.
Panthers
WR: Terrace Marshall returned but only to a partial snap share. As you can see, Robby Andersona nd DJ Moore play full ones and then they used multiple TEs here.
RB: Christian McCaffrey is back and his snap share will only climb from here. You can put Chuba back on the bench.
TE: Same as always - Ian Thomas playing more snaps than Tommy Tremble, neither of them relevant.
Patriots
WR: Jakobi Meyers and Nelson Agholor led the way but it was a run first game script. Only 22 passes. Meyers ran all 22 routes, Agholor 21. NExt highest was Kendrick Bourne with 13.
RB: Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson BOTH ended up in concussion protocol. Brandon Bolden is the next man up if need be an expect JJ Taylor to play some pass work.
TE: Hunter Henry continues to run more routes than Jonnu Smith week in and week out.
Raiders
WR: We got an answer here - Zay Jones picked up the full flanker job of Henry Ruggs. Bryan Edward at split end, Hunter Renfrow in the slot.
RB: Pretty clear split. More run work for Josh Jacobs, more pass work for Kenyan Drake. That’s what we expected pre-season.
TE: Darren Waller played his normal massive snape share running a ton of routes. He’s the man.
Rams
WR: This team has become highly consolidated - only 14 players played and two of them played fewer than 3 snaps. That means they basically use 12 guys. Kupp, Woods, Jefferson played basically the whole game.
RB: The only players rotating at all are Darrell Henderson and Sony Michel and Henderson has a clear snap advantage.
TE: Tyler Higbee played 76 of 78 snaps and ran 55 of 58 routes. We’d like more production out of that.
Ravens
WR: This team ran an absurd 98 snaps this week in the overtime game. Hollywood played 80, next highest was Bateman with 65. Rest were below the 50% mark.
RB: As long as Latavius Murray is out, Devonta Freeman seems like the guy you want. He’s the one playing the pass snaps.
TE: Mark Andrews is still a focal point of the offense. Nick Boyle should be back soon but that work comes from Eric Tomlinson.
Saints
WR: Tre’Quan Smith and Marquez Callaway are the guys with Michael Thomas done for the year. Kenny Still and Deonte Harris mix in. Oddly Harris has gotten the most targets from Siemian despite his low snap counts but he also has a suspension looming based on a DUI.
RB: Classic split. Mark Ingram is there to spell the great Alvin Kamara. If Ingram keeps getting this kind of workload, he could be relevant as a bye week guy in a Latavius Murray type of way.
TE: We talked last week about how Trautman was averaging 18 WR snaps over the prior weeks. This week he played 29. He needs to be on your radar.
Seahawks
BYE
Steelers
WR: Chase Claypool left with an injury so that needs to be monitored. James Washington would be the next man up opposite of Diontae Johnson.
RB: Najee Harris is the guy. That is all.
TE: With Eric Ebron out, Pat Freiermuth has been able to run wild and he showed what he can do this week with a two TD game. Only question is what that looks like upon Ebron’s return.
Texans
WR: Same as usual. Brandin Cooks plays the full game. Nico Collins is next bu not playing a full snap share. Danny Amendola in the slot for three WR sets.
RB: David Johnson got the bulk of the work this week after Rex Burkhead did previously. As we speculated, they may have just been showcasing Burkhead for a possible trade.
TE: The run blocking tight end Antony Auclair played the most snaps. Not helping us for fantasy. Wish they would pick one of Akins or Brevin Jordan and unleash them.
Titans
WR: AJ Brown and Julio Jones are the two guys on the outside. Forget everyone else.
RB: We got a look at things with no Derrick Henry. Adian Peterson is the run down guy, Jeremy McNichols the pass down guy. D’Onta Foreman rotates in sporadically.
TE: Once again, heavy blocking tight ends, limited Anthony Firkser. Not relevant.
Vikings
WR: I don’t know how they managed to only play 54 snaps in an overtime game where their opponent played 98. Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen is all you need to worry about for now.
RB: Dalvin Cook is the guy but keep an eye on this weird legal saga. If he’s out, you want Mattison in your lineup.
TE: Same story - Conklin is blocking wayyy to much on pass plays and it’s going to bite him at some point. He played 28 pass plays, blocked on nine.
Washington Football Team
BYE