The early part of the fantasy football season is the most delicate and difficult balance. On one hand, we don’t want to overreact to small sample sizes. On the other, we need to act fast on the waiver wire to stay ahead of the game. Three weeks is honestly the sweet spot as we now have THREE points of data but there are still players to be had. This article is my number one most important one each week as my weekly fantasy rankings are based on this article and all of my waiver wire decisions as well. It is literally a review of every position for every team for each week. My thoughts on everything. So here you go. 

This article goes best with our snap count tool where you can see all of the raw snap numbers. But I take it a step further letting you know who got the pass snaps, two minute drill, who pass blocked, who played slot, who played two-WR sets. I do my best to let you know who is getting the work and who isn’t. So, without further ado, here is the NFL Week 3 snap count report heading into fantasy football Week 4.

 

Fantasy Football Week 4 Snap Count Preview

San Francisco 49ers - 83 Snaps

WR: This team uses a fullback for a ton of snaps so there are really only two meaningful wide receiver roles. With Brandon Aiyuk out we were hoping someone would step up and take the full role but no one did - Deebo ran 40 routes and the next highest was Ray-Ray McCloud at 24. So just a DFS dart throw. 

RB:  Christian McCaffrey is a super megastar. They told us they would try to mix in Elijah Mitchell and they did but still not enough to trust unless it’s looking like a blowout in the 49ers' favor. This week they are favored by 14 against the Cardinals so this would be that type of game script.

TE: George Kittle is always a decent-to-good option but, whenever a wide receiver is out, he’s a great option. He did block on six pass plays but we warned you that would happen from time to time in this article. 

 

Chicago Bears - 51 Snaps

WR: The setup is established - DJ Moore and Chase Claypool are on the outside, Darnell Mooney is operating out the slot. Mooney has been coming out for two WR sets but he also has a bruised knee so we’ll monitor that. For now though with the way Fields plays, Moore is the only viable option. 

RB: Ever since D’Onta Foreman was cast aside it’s been a two man split and it gets closer each week. 28 snaps for Khalil Herbert, 23 for Roschon Johnson. The shining new rookie is the mystery box that always intrigues us most in these situations. 

TE: Cole Kmet played a massive snaps share Week One (72 of 74 snaps) but has since settled in at around 60-70%. This week he played 39 of 51 and ran 21 of 29 routes. That caps his upside. 

 

Cincinnati Bengals - 77 Snaps

WR: Tee Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd. Only an injury will change this.

RB:  Joe Mixon continues to get all the meaningful touches. Tough matchup this week but that shouldn’t change. Next man up is Trayveon Williams. 

TE: Irv Smith Jr himself wasn’t particularly relevant so we didn’t expect anyone else to be. You want a DFS dart throw? Tanner Hudson ran the most routes by far but still only 32 of 54.

 

Buffalo Bills - 68 Snaps

WR: Same as the previous two weeks - Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis play the full snap shares, Trent Sherfield is a distant third playing 31 of 68 snaps this week. They use two tight ends now.

RB: James Cook gets the work in virtually every capacity EXCEPT the most important one - goal line. Latavius Murray, Damien Harris, and Josh Allen have taken most of those touches though Cook did get his first carry of the year inside the five this week. He got stuffed. Still a rock solid RB2 though with weekly RB1 upside. 

TE: This is a huge “prove it” week for Dalton Kincaid vs. a MIami team that struggled against the tight end. So far they have used a lot of two tight end sets and Kincaid has played more WR snaps than Dawson Knox (94 to 69). We need the Bills to fully unleash Kincaid as the full time slot WR but that might never happen so he’s still a bench stash. I’m stashing him on a LOT of teams. 

 

Cleveland Browns - 71 Snaps

WR: Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones on the outside, Elijah Moore in the slot. DPJ typically leads the team in snaps as the split end who doens’t come out for jumbo packages but the routes run were actually Amari (39), Elijah Moore (37), DPJ (36). Amari and Moore are the favored targets. 

RB: Jerome Ford took the lead job as expected with Kareem Hunt mixing in. We expect Hunt to get ramped up as we move along but he’s apparently dealing with a groin so could be a good week for Ford again. 

TE:  David Njoku only ran 29 of 41 routes and Watson clearly prefers to target the wide receivers. We need to see a couple weeks in a row of consistency to get back to starting him.

 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 47 Snaps

WR: Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are the full time dogs, Trey Palmer is the next man up but he mixes and matches with tight ends so doesn’t really play enough to consider in fantasy. Maybe a DFS dart throw. 

RB: Rachaad White played 43 of 47 snaps so it’s his role completely. He just hasn’t been efficient behind a pretty rough offensive line. 

TE: Cade Otten plays a ton of snaps each week and this should have been a good spot for him but didn’t really do much. He really needs one of Mike Evans or Chris Godwin to go away to have upside. 

 

Denver Broncos - 62 Snaps

WR: Nightmare week for this team but at least we know that Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy are the full time guys. They continue to use multiple tight ends and running backs and a fullback so it’s hard to have a full time third WR. Marvin Mims only played 15 snaps again despite flashing every chance he gets. 

RB: The split is pretty established here. Javonte Williams gets most of the run work then they split the pass work evenly. 14 pass plays for Williams, 16 for Perine. 

TE: Until Greg Dulcich returns there is no fantasy-relevant tight end here for any sort of normal leagues. Adam Trautman blocks on far too many pass plays. 

 

Arizona Cardinals - 61 Snaps

WR: Marquise Brown is the one guy playing the full game (58 snaps). Michael Wilson is your split end (41 snaps) and Rondale Moore is a slot/gadget guy (33 snaps). The rest of the snaps are mostly filled in by the THREE tight ends they use. 

RB: James Conner is the man. Locked and loaded as long as he is healthy. 

TE: Zach Ertz (36), Geoff Swaim (32) and Trey McBride (30) all play to some degree. This is the second week in a row the usage for Ertz has declined so, unless that turns around, he’s not the super star we saw Week One.

 

Dallas Cowboys - 81 Snaps

WR: Now that everyone is healthy I think we have the set up. It’s Ceedee Lamb in the slot for three WR sets with Brandin Cooks and Michael Gallup out wide. When they go to two tight end sets, Michael Gallup comes out of the game in most cases. We’ll let you know if this changes but it’s Cooks over Gallup for now. 

RB:  Tony Pollard played 70 snaps. It doesn’t get much better. Rico Dowdle is next man up.

TE: Jake Ferguson just does not play a full snaps share - 56 of 81 snaps. He ran 34 of 52 routes. Peyton Hendershot ran 18. Dak does lean into him but without the full usage he’s not going to be Dalton Schultz like some hoped. 

 

Los Angeles Chargers - 66 Snaps

WR: Big news here - Mike Williams is done for the year. Keenan Allen will keep his role. Joshua Palmer is likely to slide into the Mike Williams role and now rookie Quentin Johnston will hopefully get that Josh Palmer role which is a pretty decent snap share. QJ has played 22, 10, and 16 snaps last three weeks so it can’t be worse than that.

RB:  With Austin Ekeler out it’s the Joshua Kelley show. And that show needs to be canceled. 

TE: You would think there would be an opportunity here for someone to step but but they split the snaps. Gerald Everett played 38, Donald Parham played 34, Stone Smartt played 17. Everett is still the best bet for targets but Parham is clearly a threat in the red area. 

 

Kansas City Chiefs - 77 Snaps 

WR: Frustrating as always. Skyy Moore played the most with 50 snaps followed by Marquez Valdes-Scantling with 41 but rookie Rashee Rice is up to 39. He’s honestly more interesting than MVS.

RB:  Don’t be fooled by the Clyde Edwards-Helaire stats - they mostly came in garbage time. Isiah Pacheco is the guy, Jerick McKinnon helps with pass work.

TE: Travis Kelce is a star, Noah Gray plays the inline tight end role and played 27 snaps this week. He’s a random DFS dart throw at best. 

 

Indianapolis Colts - 84 Snaps

WR: The Colts play 84 snaps, Michael Pittman plays 84. That’s how they roll. Alec Pierce played 81 but Josh Downs (67) has been more effective so we would love to see that flip. 

RB: One more week of the Zack Moss full-time super star role. Or is it? Jonathan Taylor could be back, he might not. That makes Moss one of the most volatile assets in fantasy but you start him this week.

TE: Kylen Granson continues to be the best bet in DFS with 32 routes run vs. nine for Drew Ogletree. Jelani Woods is still a sneaky IR stash.  

 

Washington Commanders - 54 Snaps

WR: Jahan Dotson and Terry McLaurin are the full time outside WRs with Curtis Samuel in the slot. Samuel got a boost in usage with no Logan Thomas. Dotson has been invisible as of late but he played 51 of 54 snaps so I can assure you he is out there. 

RB: Brian Robinson looks good when the Commanders look good but, when they look bad, Antonio Gibson plays a bunch. This week was real bad so Gibson played 33 snaps to 20 for Robinsons. The schedule doesn’t get much better.

TE: Cole Turner filled in for Logan Thomas and got a LOT of looks which has us interested for Turner in DFS when Thomas is out and for Thomas in redraft when he returns. 

 

Miami Dolphins - 73 Snaps

WR: This game was insanity so the snap info is useless. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are still must starts, everyone else isn’t super interested. 

RB:  Raheem Mostert continues to be incredible but De’Von Achane showed he might be incredible too. Jeff Wilson coming back at some point throws another wrinkle in there. For now it might be worth starting both Mostert AND Achane. 

TE: I saw some folks saying to add Julian Hill but Tyler Kroft was out and Durham Smythe got banged up. If you are going to roster anyone in fantasy, it is still Smythe. 

 

Philadelphia Eagles - 80 Snaps

WR: DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown are the dudes. Even when Quez Watkins is healthy he doesn’t play anywhere close to enough. With him out, Olamide Zaccheaus is your DFS dart but he only played 44 of 80 snaps.

RB:  D’Andre Swift played 43 snaps and Kenneth Gainwell played 37. And they split the pass and run work fairly evenly. Looks like it just might be a two man split. 

TE: Dallas Goedert continues to be Dallas Goedert - handcuff plus tight end that has high upside if Smith or Brown ever gets injured. 

 

Atlanta Falcons - 67 Snaps

WR: Drake London and Mack Hollins continue to be the only viable WRs because of the two tight end and two RB sets. London obviously more viable than Hollins. 

RB: Bijan Robinson is awesome but they clearly don’t plan to stop using Tyler Allgeier. We know what we have here. 

TE: Kyle Pitts played a ton of WR snaps, he got nine targets, he got a carry, he didn’t pass block once. Still, disappointing. It’s not a usage problem, it’s a quarterback problem. 

 

New York Giants - 50 Snaps

WR:  Darius Slayton (42) led again with Isaiah Hodgins (33) opposite him and Parris Campbell (21) in the slot. For the love of god, just let Jalin Hyatt (16) and Wan’Dale Robinson (11) play. 

RB: Matt Breida is the man whenever Saquon Barkley is out so keep that in mind if Barkley misses this week. He played 41 snaps, no one else played double digits.

TE: Darren Waller has had two rough matchups vs. the Cowboys and 49ers but he did well in the other game. His usage is good and the hamstring injury is a few games behind him so he’s a buy-low target. 

 

Jacksonville Jaguars - 73 Snaps

WR: No Zay Jones saw Christian Kirk and Calvin Ridley featured with Jamal Agnew as the new WR3. When Jones gets back, Agnew goes back to return duty. 

RB: Travis Etienne dominated snaps (52) but Tank Bigsby (9) obviously vulture the goal line touchdown. Great.

TE: Evan Engram continues to be one of the safest options in fantasy. He actually runs ove 70% of his routes from a wide receiver spot and almost never pass blocks which is exactly what we want to see. 

 

New York Jets - 63 Snaps

WR: Garrett Wilson and Allen Lazard both played virtually the whole game with 61 snaps. Randall Cobb was the slot guy with 46. 

RB: Last week it was a three-way split but this week Breece Hall took about 50% of the spas (31) while Dalvin Cook and Michael Carter played 15 and 16 respectively. It’s Breece or nothing. 

TE: Tyler Conklin is your best bet if you have to go there but he only ran 29 of 42 routes. CJ Uzomah made the big play.

 

Detroit Lions - 70 Snaps

WR: Amon-Ra St. Brown is not letting the ailment bother him as he ran all 37 routes and even had a carry. Josh Reynolds ran 28 routes but had a rough day dealing with AJ Terrell on the outside. No other WR played more than half the snaps.

RB: David Montgomery will be back soon so we will be back to the split. Montgomery for power work with Jahmyr Gibbs for finesse work. They built it that way and it’s what they want. 

TE: Sam LaPorta broke out in a big way here and his usage continues to improve. His 30 routes were second only to Amon-Ra St. Browns. 

 

Green Bay Packers - 79 Snaps

WR: It’s been Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks on the outside with Jayden Reed in the slot. Swap Christian Watson in and Dontayvion Wicks out. There ya go. 

RB: Aaron Jones was out so Patrick Taylor pretended he was Aaron Jones with 25 pass snaps (AJ Dillon also played 25 pass snaps). Jones will be back soon to take his role. 

TE: Luke Musgrave once again tied for the lead with routes run for this team. The question now is what happens when Christian Watson returns but we are stashing Musgrave in a lot of spots. 

 

Carolina Panthers - 79 Snaps

WR: Here are the two things we know. Adam Thielen is a full time guy. And Terrace Marshall is an odd man out. What we don’t know is who will play more snaps when everyone is fully healthy - Jonathan Mingo or DJ Chark. In Week Two, Chark was just getting back so Mingo played the full roll but this week Mingo left the game and Chark played the full role. So this week we hopefully get answers. 

RB: Miles Sanders now leads the league in targets - Andy Dalton sure liked dumping it down to him. Bryce Young will be back soon but Sanders is the guy in every phase while Chuba just mixes in. 

TE: Hayden Hurst never plays the full game making him hard to trust. He ran 43 routes but they had 67 pass plays. DJ Chark ran 65 routes. 

 

New England Patriots - 71 Snaps

WR: DeVante Parker led in snaps again but had a tough assignment with these Jets corners. The usage for JuJu Smith-Schuster has been strange - DeVante Parker played 54 snaps and ran 28 routes, JuJu played 52 and ran 19 routes, Kendrick Bourne played 40 and ran 22 routes. Is JuJu some kind of blocking WR?

RB: Rhamondre Stevenson (46) plays more than Ezekiel Elliott (27) every week but Zeke still gets carries making him a handcuff plus. 

TE: Did not have Pharaoh Brown's 58-yard TD on my bingo card. Hunter Henry played 61 snaps of 71 so he’s still a great option. Mike Gesicki is more of a wide receiver and a part-time one at that playing 33 of 71 snaps. 


Las Vegas Raiders - 72 Snaps

WR: Here is what we wrote last week

“Davante Adams is my number one trade target right now given the gamescripts for the Raiders so far - only 54 total drop backs which is HALF of what the Texans have so far. Jakobi Meyers is a guy that should be rostered as well. The rest we can forget about for now."

This week they dropped back 54 times which MATCHES the total from the first two games. And look what happened with Adams and Meyers. You’re welcome.

RB:  Josh Jacob is dialed into usage in all phases and is one of the better buy-low candidates in my opinion. So few guys play over 80% of the snaps like he did this week. 

TE:  Neither tight end is fantasy-relevant. If you must throw a dart, Austin Hooper has run more routes in every game. But they split. 

 

Los Angeles Rams - 55 Snaps

WR: The Rams finally had a normal game script in terms of snap totals so this is more like what things should look like. Puka played 53 snaps, Van Jefferson played 51, Tutu Atwell played 48 so those are the guys. 

RB:  Cam Akers is fully gone now so it’s full Kyren Williams. He played EVERY snap. 100%.

TE: Tyler Higbee played 53 of 55 snaps but we can’t trust him because sometimes he blocked for huge portions of the games including pass plays. 

 

Baltimore Ravens - 72 Snaps

WR: Odell Beckham Jr was out. Zay Flowers played his full role (67 snaps) while Rashod Bateman (50) and Nelson Agholor (52) mixed and matched. Not what we wanted to see, we want Bateman playing the whole game here. The foot might still be bothering him.

RB:  Gus Edwards started as expected but got a concussion - Melvin Gordon took over. If Gus can’t go, this backfield will be Melvin Gordon and Kenyan Drake. Holy time machine.

TE: Mark Andrews is still the man here. Five targets is a down game for him but that’s a good game for many tight ends so just be happy to have him. 

 

New Orleans Saints - 61 Snaps

WR: Chris Olave and Michael Thomas are your full time guys as always but Rashid Shaheed (44 snaps) continues to flash. I doubt they just make him an every down player right now but he’s worth a start regardless based on his explosiveness. Michael Thomas has gotten eight targets in each game as well which is all you need. Let’s see who Jameis Winston likes. 

RB: Alvin Kamara is back so there’s no reason to expect him not to get the full workload. Given the skillsets, I expect Kendre Miller to be the guy who mixes in until Jamaal Williams gets back. 

TE: Juwan Johnson only ran 25 of 38 routes. Jimmy Graham vultured the TD on 9 routes. And with all the WRs, it’s just hard to trust JJ.

 

Seattle Seahawks - 75 Snaps

WR: So far our prediction has been on point - Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the slot WR who comes out for two WR sets in favor of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Until that flips, Lockett and Metcalf are the guys. 

RB: Kenneth Walker is still the top dog but Zach Charbonnet seems to have clawed away the two minute drill which is meaningful. That’s the first step towards the change that Charbaonnett plays more snaps in negative game script games. 

TE: These dudes all rotate to the point that no one can be trusted. Even when Will Dissly is out. Plus, they have three good WRs. 

 

Pittsburgh Steelers - 62 Snaps

WR: Diontae Johnson is out so it’s George Pickens, Allen Robinson, and Calvin Austin. As fun as Austin is, he probably goes back to his part time role when Diontae is back. 

RB: This argument should last all season - folks love Jaylen Warren but Najee Harris is clearly the starter and goal line back. It’s probably just going to be a split and you will probably have to deal with it.

TE: Pat Freiermuth plays a full role and we know what he is capable of - he is only as good as Kenny Pickett is at delivering the football. It might be wise to try to trade Muth on name value before Diontae Johnson gets back. 
 

Houston Texans - 56 Snaps

WR: Nico Collins is the split end while Robert Woods and Tank Dell rotate at flanker and slot. It would be nice if Robert Woods would go away so that the targets could be focused on Collins and Dell but that’s not how it works. 

RB: This should have been the game script for Dameon Pierce but he still split with Devin Singletary. 30 snaps for Pierce, 22 for Singletary. Ouch. 

TE: Dalton Schultz plays a good snap share, runs a lot of routes, doesn’t block on pass plays. But Stroud doesn’t seem super interested in looking his way vs. the wide receivers. 

 

Tennessee Titans - 47 Snaps 

WR: DeAndre Hopkins must be dealing with something as he’s taking a lot of plays off - only 34 snaps. Treylon Burks played 35, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine played 38.

RB: They showed once again that, in bad game scripts, Tyjae Spears will play some pass downs. That is bad news for Derrick Henry. Henry played 17 snaps to 27 for Spears.

TE: Chigoziem Okonwko played 39 of 47 snaps but blocked on seven pass plays to help deal with Myles Garrett. He needs an injury to a WR here. 

 

Minnesota Vikings - 83 Snaps

WR: Justin Jefferson was the 1.01 for a reason. The question now is whether Jordan Addison (59) can overtake KJ Osborn (77) for snaps. It’s not the end of the world but, the day that happens, it’s wheels up. 

RB: Alexander Mattison looked great and played 67 snaps. Now let’s see how he looks with Cam Akers. 

TE: T.J. Hockenson continues to play a huge snap share, run a ton of routes (53 of 58), and be one of the safest possible fantasy tight ends. Congratulations.