It’s here. Championship week. There is ZERO time for screwing around. We only want players we can trust. So let’s get right 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: Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel were the top WRs - it doesn’t matter that Aiyuk ran more routes because Deebo Samuel is also playing RB.
RB: As long as Elijah Mitchell is out, Jeff Wilson Jr. is the guy. Where it gets dicey is if Mitchell is active this week. In that case we’d prefer Mitchell.
TE: George Kittle played every single snap, it just wasn’t a good game script or matchup. But he’s still a guy you roll out there every week.
Bears
WR: Allen Robinson was out so Damiere Byrd played the split end role opposite Darnell Mooney. Robinson should be back this week so it’s back to ARob and Moondog.
RB: David Montgomery has been a bright spot this season in terms of usage. He’s the guy for sure.
TE: Cole Kmet played 71 of 74 snaps and ran 36 routes so good deployment as we’ve seen. Of course he doesn’t catch his end zone target and Jimmy Graham catches his though…
Bengals
WR: This one is dependable - Chase and Higgins on the outside, Boyd in the slot.
RB: The ankle did not seem to bother Joe Mixon this week - 62 of 76 snaps.
TE: CJ Uzomah also played his typical snap share. Just not enough targets to go around.
Bills
WR: With Gabriel Davis and Cole Beasley out, it was Isaiah McKenzie’s time to shine and he routinely beat his coverage against Myles Bryant. Next week they should get everyone back though so once again Diggs is the most trustworthy and the others become risky.
RB: Devin Singletary was banged up a little in this one so Zach Moss played a bit but, as long as he’s looking healthy, it’s been the Singletary show.
TE: Dawson Knox played every single snap and only blocked on five pass plays but the Patriots are just not a good matchup for tight ends.
Browns
WR: Donovan Peoples-Jones, Jarvis Landry, and Rashard Higgins. That’s the set up these days. Jarvis and DPJ play in two WR sets so they are the best bets.
RB: Nick Chubb got the bulk of the carries though D’Ernest Johnson did play a Kareem Hunt style game with 21 pass snaps to Chubb’s 22 and a couple carries.
TE: Back to business as usual. They ran 44 pass plays. 20 routes for Njoku and 18 for Hooper. Not enough.
Buccaneers
WR: As expected, Antonio Brown had to put the team on his back. The next leading WRs in terms of playing time were Cyril Grayson and Tyler Johnson. Scotty Miller did not play much.
RB: Ronald Jones got the bulk of the work but Ke’Shawn Vaughn jumped in and contributed. He at least split pass down work with Jones.
TE: Rob Gronkowski played 60 of 64 snaps. Not a good matchup for him this week but the usage is there.
Broncos
WR: Same as last week - Tim Patrick and Courtland Sutton pace the WRs while Jerry Jeudy plays primarily in the slot. They all ran between 22 and 24 routes because the team just didn’t throw much.
RB: The split continues - 23 snaps for Melvin and 22 snaps for Javote Williams. I don’t think they care about fantasy football.
TE: Much like the WRs, Noah Fant ran 22 routes. Albert Okwuegbunam was used more sparingly than previous weeks with only 14 snaps and 6 routes.
Cardinals
WR: AJ Green, Christian Kirk, and Antoine Wesley were the WRs. Andy Isabella played sparingly with Rondale Moore out but Moore himself wasn’t playing all that much either.
RB: James Conner was out so Chase Edmonds played 60 of 65 snaps. We’ll have to see what happens with this heel injury.
TE: Zach Ertz played 63 of 65 snaps. He’s been a pleasant surprise ever since he got fully up to speed with the playbook.
Cowboys
WR: We were concerned when Lamb didn’t start the game but he actually played more snaps than Cooper and Gallup and they all ran similar routes. All three players are threats to score when this offense is rolling.
RB: As usual, Zeke got the bulk of the work and Tony Pollard came in to spell him. That’s how it is.
TE: Dalton Schultz gave us a full snap share. The concern of course is that they won’t always hang this many points but he’s been a pretty decent option.
Chargers
WR: With Mike Williams out and Jaylon Guyton both out, it was Keenan Allen and Josh Palmer playing the full workload. Jason Moore was the next WR in.
RB: It seems we now know for sure that, when Austin Ekeler is out, Justin Jackson is a guy we can lean on.
TE: Jared Cook led with 30 routes while Stephen Anderson (9) and Tre’ McKitty (5) spent most of their day blocking. As usual.
Chiefs
WR: With no Tyreek Hill it was actually Byron Pringle and not Mecole Hardman that got the most snaps. Hardman actually only played 30 which was fewer than Demarcus Robinson as well. If Hardman isn’t going to do much even with Hill out, I’m not sure when he ever will.
RB: CEH is the starter but he left the game with a collarbone injury which is never good. Darrell Willams and Derrick Gore split the work but Williams played more.
TE: If you made the championship and you have Travis Kelce, you start him. That’s that.
Colts
WR: Michael Pittman was ejected vs. the Patriots but this week he played 68 of 69 snaps. Locked in. Zach Pascal was out so TY Hilton played the next highest share followed by Keke Coutee and Ashton Dulin. None are particularly interesting.
RB: Jonathan Taylor. Beast.
TE: We haven’t been interested in this situation all year but, with Jack Doyle going down with an injury, it might be interesting now. Mo Alie-Cox played 62 of 69 snaps though he only ran routes on 28 of 37 pass plays. Kylen Granson played more snaps than usual but still not enough.
Dolphins
WR: Albert Wilson is ont he COVID list but it really doesn’t have too much of an effect on things as the primary WRs have realistically been Jaylen Waddle, DeVante Parker, and Mike Gesicki (he’s played almost 650 snaps at WR and less than 75 at TE).
RB: Duke Johnson as the hot hand last week but Philip Lindsay stepped in and took a chunk of the work this week. Myles Gaskin operated primarily on pass plays. This is the type of three headed split we don’t like.
TE: With Mike Gesicki playing WR, Durham Smythe played tight end. In fact he played more snaps than Gesicki. He only ran 20 routes tho so not something we trust for fantasy.
Eagles
WR: DeVonta Smith and Quez Watkins played full snap shares, Jalen Reagor only played half the snaps. If we can’t even trust Watkins then we definitely can’t trust Reagor.
RB: This is about as much of a nightmare split as you could possibly imagine. Snaps were split 22/20/19 and carries 9/12/8. Almost doesn’t even matter who got what.
TE: Dallas Goedert at least is locked into his workload. We did warn that the Giants were not a good matchup for him based on what happened last time but this upcoming week will be better.
Falcons
WR: Russell Gage and Olamide Zaccheaus led in snaps - Gage is the only one you can trust in a meaningful lineup though.
RB: Mike Davis and Cordarelle Patterson split the snaps right down the middle, in both phases of the game. 11 routes, 8 carries for Davis and 12 routes, 7 carries for Patterson. Yuck.
TE: Kyle Pitts will always offer interesting upside as long as they use him the way they have, playing more snaps at wide receiver than at tight end.
Giants
WR: Darius Slayton and Kenny Golladay played flanker and split end on the outside. Sterling Shepard is done but Kadarius Toney still split snaps with Pharoh Cooper in the slot making him a tough sell.
RB: Saquon Barkley got most of the carries but they used Devontae Booker on a ton of pass snaps (33 for Booker, 11 for Barkley). Not ideal.
TE: Evan Engram once again played a ton of snaps and ran a ton of routes - his 44 routes tied Kenny Golladay for the team lead. This week vs. the Bears is not a great matchup though.
Jaguars
WR: Once again it was Treadwell and Marvin Jones on the outside. With no Laviska Shenault, Tavon Austin played that slot role.
RB: James Robinson unfortunately suffered a brutal injury so it was Dare Ogunbawale who stepped up. With Carlos Hyde also on IR, they don’t have many other options.
TE: James O’Shaughnessy oddly only ran 24 of 46 routes which is not what we expected. With a potential return for Dan Arnold, he’s not to be trusted.
Jets
WR: The Jets are missing a lot of guys as of late with Corey Davis, Elijah Moore, Jamison Crowder all out. Braxton Berrios seems to be the most trusted name followed by Keelan Cole. Denzel Mims and Jeff Smith aren’t playing enough.
RB: Same as the week before - Michael Carter is your starter but Tevon Coleman still split the carries. We’d love for them to just use the one rookie as a three down workhorse.
TE: You can’t start a Jets tight end in a real league. If you want a random DFS dart throw that no one would or should use, Tyler Kroft would be the guy.
Lions
WR: Amon-Ra St. Brown continues to be a beacon of fantasy hope. Josh Reynolds plays opposite him at spit end and Kalif Raymond is the third man in.
RB: The split is in full swing between Craig Reynolds and Jamaal Williams. The only question remaining is whether we trust D’Andre Swift or not if he gets back in there.
TE: Brock Wright once again played a ton of snaps and he once again only ran 16 routes out of 34 pass plays (last week was 15 of 30). Not enough.
Packers
WR: Adams, Lazard, MVS is what they were doing but MVS is out so Equanimeous St. Brown played a ton of snaps. If MVS is back EQSB goes to the bench
RB: Aaron Jones is at least getting more work in both the run and the pass game but the split is still there. Not ideal.
TE: Josiah Deguara is the closest thing they have to a pass catching tight end but 21 routes of 35 isn’t going to cut it.
Panthers
WR: Robby Anderson and DJ Moore - those are the guys. It was nice to see Terrace Marshall get up to 40 snaps but those are two played 60+.
RB: Ameer Abdullah continues to play more pass snaps while Hubbard gets more run plays. That’s the split.
TE: Neither tight end is even close to reliable but Tommy Tremble got the better deployment this week.
Patriots
WR: A slight change in the formula this week - Jakobi Meyers almost always leads in snaps but this week it was actually N’Keal Harry. Meyers was next and Kendrick Bourne was a distant third.
RB: It’s theme thing we have always described. It’s a split system between run and pass downs. When Mondre Stevenson is healthy, the run plays are further split between he and Harris.
TE: Hunter Henry has proven time and time again that he is fairly matchup dependent. Good vs. Colts. Bad vs. Bills. This should be a good week vs. the Jaguars.
Raiders
WR: With Bryan Edwards on the COVID list they didn’t really give anyone else his full snap share. Zay Jones and Hunter Renfrow played theirs then they split between DeSean Jackson, Tyron Johnson, Nick Bowers etc.
RB: Josh Jacobs is a guy you are finding a way to get into your lineup since there is no real split anymore with no Drake.
TE: Foster Moreau is playing virtually every snap when Darren Waller is out. If he’s out again, Moreau isn’t a bad option.
Rams
WR: Kupp, Jefferson, Odell. That is set in stone.
RB: Darrell Henderson was ruled out with a knee so it’s Sony Michel. If Henderson is out then Michel is the guy.
TE: We know exactly what Tyler Higbee is. He plays a lot of snaps but there is only one ball. It’s a good matchup though so you could do worse.
Ravens
WR: It looks like Rashod Bateman has finally carved out a full role so him and Marquise Brown are both pretty much full time guys at this point. No one else is playing even more than 50% though.
RB: A little more of a split than usual but Devonta Freeman is still the lead guy. Latavius Murray is lurking though.
TE: Mark Andrews is locked in regardless of matchup.
Saints
WR: Tre’Quan Smith left the game with an injury so only Marquez Callaway was playing the full share. If Smith is out, Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Ty Montgomery are the next two in line.
RB: Alvin Kamara is the guy, Mark Ingram is the backup who mixes in periodically. They like it like that.
TE: Any time Adam Trautman is out, Nick Vannett plays a ton of snaps but Trautman could be back this week.
Seahawks
WR: DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett are the only two that you can consider.
RB: Rashaad Penny is the guy right now so roll him out if you need someone. DeeJay Dallas did lead in pass work (17 to 11) but Penny gets the work.
TE: Gerald Everett may be low upside but he’s got a good floor and a good matchup.
Steelers
WR: Claypool seems to have worked his way out of the doghouse - he and Diontae Johnson both played massive snap shares if you want to give either a go.
RB: Najee Harris gets the best deployment of any RB in terms of snaps.
TE: Pat Freiermuth should be back this week so he’s the guy - Zach Gentry back on the backburner.
Texans
WR: With no Brandin Cooks it was Chris Conley and Nico Collins on the outside. When Cooks is in, Conley takes a lesser role.
RB: Wow Rex Burkhead had a day huh? He’s clearly the guy for this team right now.
TE: Brevin Jordan doesn’t quite run every route (18 of 30) but he runs more than any other tight end on this team.
Titans
WR: AJ Brown is back and he took over this game. He’s the only guy you consider playing since Julio Jones is on a snap count.
RB: Here’s an annoying split - McNichols led in snaps while Foreman got the most carries. Meanwhile Dontrell Hillard still got five touches. Hate that.
TE: No one here is worth utilizing in fantasy. Swaim ran 12 routes and Firkser ran 11.
Vikings
WR: Adam Thielen is back so he and Justin Jefferson are the guys once again.
RB: Any time Dalvin Cook is out, Mattison is the guy. When Cook is back, he’s the guy.
TE: Tyler Conklin is not to be trusted. Blocks on too many pass plays.
Washington Football Team
WR: Terry McLaurin is getting the snaps but not quite getting the ball. You still roll him out unless you have something much better.
RB: With the toe injury, you have to try to look elsewhere if possible. They just aren’t deploying Gibson the way we’d like.
TE: John Bates played more snaps and ran more routes this week but it’s hard to trust him. If Ricky Seals-Jones was getting those snaps, we’d like it but he isn’t playing enough. So in reality, I’d just go with another option in the most important week.