NFL

Between the Lines: Week 6 Snap Count Analysis

Some rookie running backs are asserting themselves and others aren't. What can we tell from this week's snap usage about different positional groups?

In fantasy football, one way to gain an edge over opponents is to look beyond the box score and examine player snap counts. While a quick scan of player stats can tell us who actually performed and produced, snap count data can give us an indicator of guys who are seeing the field on a consistent -- or inconsistent -- basis.

After all, opportunities breed fantasy points, and snap counts are one of the more predictive metrics for fantasy football performance. This makes sense, intuitively, as the more a player is on the field, the more opportunities he'll have to touch the ball, and the more opportunities he'll have to score fantasy points.

In each of these weekly articles, I'll evaluate each position by looking at snap count, opportunity, and efficiency trends. All data, unless otherwise noted, comes from numberFire's Snap Count page.

Running Back

Name Team YTD
Snaps
Per Game
YTD
Team
Snap %
Week 6
Snaps
Week 6
Snap %
Kenyan Drake ARI 46.8 67% 42 68%
Chase Edmonds ARI 25.7 37% 23 37%
Todd Gurley ATL 39.8 55% 46 58%
Brian Hill ATL 19.3 27% 21 26%
Keith Smith ATL 13.7 19% 13 16%
Ito Smith ATL 12.2 17% 11 14%
Gus Edwards BAL 21.2 34% 32 44%
J.K. Dobbins BAL 22.7 37% 30 41%
Mark Ingram BAL 18.0 29% 9 12%
Devin Singletary BUF 46.5 72% 40 75%
Zack Moss BUF 26.7 38% 13 25%
Mike Davis CAR 39.2 59% 60 88%
Trenton Cannon CAR 5.0 7% 8 12%
Alex Armah CAR 10.8 16% 6 9%
David Montgomery CHI 45.0 68% 56 85%
Joe Mixon CIN 48.3 66% 39 53%
Giovani Bernard CIN 24.0 32% 35 48%
Kareem Hunt CLE 32.0 48% 30 53%
D'Ernest Johnson CLE 12.4 18% 17 30%
Dontrell Hilliard CLE 11.0 16% 7 12%
Ezekiel Elliott DAL 65.0 83% 54 61%
Tony Pollard DAL 15.5 19% 32 36%
Phillip Lindsay DEN 29.5 47% 40 63%
Royce Freeman DEN 17.0 26% 25 39%
D'Andre Swift DET 22.4 32% 29 38%
Adrian Peterson DET 26.6 39% 27 35%
Kerryon Johnson DET 17.4 26% 17 22%
Aaron Jones GB 38.0 56% 36 57%
Jamaal Williams GB 29.8 44% 32 51%
A.J. Dillon GB 6.3 9% 10 16%
David Johnson HOU 47.7 80% 56 78%
Duke Johnson HOU 18.8 29% 19 26%
Jonathan Taylor IND 33.3 50% 37 59%
Nyheim Hines IND 22.5 34% 21 33%
Jordan Wilkins IND 8.8 13% 4 6%
James Robinson JAC 40.2 61% 44 69%
Chris Thompson JAC 23.2 34% 20 31%
Clyde Edwards-Helaire KC 46.5 66% 49 67%
Darrel Williams KC 19.3 28% 23 32%
Darrell Henderson LA 25.2 39% 32 53%
Malcolm Brown LA 33.8 51% 27 45%
Cam Akers LA 10.3 15% 1 2%
Myles Gaskin MIA 43.5 67% 39 70%
Matt Breida MIA 15.8 24% 16 29%
Chandler Cox MIA 14.3 22% 12 21%
Patrick Laird MIA 4.8 8% 6 11%
Alexander Mattison MIN 21.7 33% 27 48%
Ameer Abdullah MIN 5.0 9% 16 29%
Mike Boone MIN 5.0 7% 5 9%
James White NE 30.0 46% 31 54%
Rex Burkhead NE 29.2 43% 18 32%
Damien Harris NE 17.5 26% 12 21%
Devonta Freeman NYG 31.0 53% 35 73%
Dion Lewis NYG 22.2 36% 9 19%
Elijhaa Penny NYG 3.0 5% 5 10%
Wayne Gallman NYG 9.4 16% 4 8%
La'Mical Perine NYJ 20.3 29% 41 58%
Frank Gore NYJ 27.0 40% 25 35%
Boston Scott PHI 19.2 27% 35 49%
Miles Sanders PHI 50.6 72% 29 40%
Corey Clement PHI 8.0 11% 7 10%
James Conner PIT 41.6 59% 43 66%
Benny Snell Jr. PIT 16.6 24% 14 22%
Anthony McFarland Jr. PIT 8.3 12% 10 15%
Jaylen Samuels PIT 7.6 11% 5 8%
Raheem Mostert SF 29.0 44% 35 48%
Jerick McKinnon SF 31.0 44% 23 32%
JaMycal Hasty SF 7.7 10% 15 21%
Ronald Jones TB 37.3 54% 37 57%
LeSean McCoy TB 14.2 21% 19 29%
Ke'Shawn Vaughn TB 15.7 22% 10 15%
Derrick Henry TEN 48.0 66% 45 60%
Jeremy McNichols TEN 17.6 25% 29 39%
Khari Blasingame TEN 12.8 18% 10 13%
J.D. McKissic WSH 33.2 50% 39 53%
Antonio Gibson WSH 29.2 45% 27 37%
Peyton Barber WSH 8.7 13% 8 11%


- We've finally made it to D'Andre Swift SZN! While the rookie only had a 38 percent snap share (his second-highest rate so far this season), he turned his 18 opportunities (season-high) into 123 yards and 2 touchdowns. The most encouraging trend for managers with Swift on their teams is that Adrian Peterson has seen his snap share decrease in each of the Detroit Lions' last three games, going from 59 percent to 44 percent to 35 percent on Sunday. Kerryon Johnson is still in the mix a little bit, but he hasn't seen a snap share higher than 32 percent in a single game this season.

- On the other side of rookie running backs is Cam Akers, who has struggled to find consistent playing time. After exiting Week 2 early with a rib injury, Akers missed both Weeks 3 and 4. Excluding the game that he left early, Akers has snap shares of 33 percent, 19 percent, and 2 percent -- this is not good and makes Akers worthy of being dropped in any redraft league. Meanwhile, Darrell Henderson seems to have established himself as the lead back for Los Angeles, earning at least 14 opportunities in four of the team's last five games. Though the snap share isn't quite there (between 39 and 53 percent snap share in each of the last five games), the opportunity is enough to warrant RB2 status since Malcolm Brown isn't enough of a threat.

- In one of the crazier games on Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts fell behind early to the Cincinnati Bengals only to mount a 21-point comeback. Because of the negative game script early on, many expected Jonathan Taylor to be completely phased out of the game plan and for the Colts to utilize Nyheim Hines as the primary pass-catching pass. Fortunately, that had little impact on how Taylor was used, which is extremely encouraging. Taylor's 51 percent snap share on Sunday was actually the third time this season that he's eclipsed 50 percent in a game. He also got 73 percent of the team's running back touches, a season-high for Taylor. Finally, Hines' 29 percent snap share was his second-lowest of the season. Maybe Taylor is game-script proof?

Wide Receiver

Name Team YTD
Snaps
Per Game
YTD
Team
Snap %
Week 6
Snaps
Week 6
Snap %
Christian Kirk ARI 48.0 68% 50 81%
DeAndre Hopkins ARI 63.3 91% 48 77%
Larry Fitzgerald ARI 55.5 80% 38 61%
Andy Isabella ARI 20.0 30% 19 31%
Julio Jones ATL 50.8 66% 64 80%
Calvin Ridley ATL 57.7 79% 59 74%
Russell Gage ATL 44.5 60% 51 64%
Christian Blake ATL 11.7 16% 15 19%
Olamide Zaccheaus ATL 35.2 51% 14 18%
Marquise Brown BAL 47.3 76% 62 85%
Willie Snead BAL 41.0 66% 49 67%
Miles Boykin BAL 39.0 63% 33 45%
Devin Duvernay BAL 14.0 22% 26 36%
John Brown BUF 53.8 83% 51 96%
Stefon Diggs BUF 59.7 90% 51 96%
Cole Beasley BUF 38.3 58% 34 64%
Gabriel Davis BUF 42.0 63% 33 62%
Isaiah McKenzie BUF 15.0 23% 7 13%
D.J. Moore CAR 56.3 85% 64 94%
Robby Anderson CAR 49.8 75% 59 87%
Keith Kirkwood CAR 35.0 51% 35 51%
Seth Roberts CAR 12.3 19% 15 22%
Allen Robinson CHI 56.3 84% 58 88%
Anthony Miller CHI 35.5 53% 44 67%
Darnell Mooney CHI 40.3 60% 44 67%
Javon Wims CHI 19.2 28% 13 20%
Cordarrelle Patterson CHI 12.2 18% 12 18%
Tee Higgins CIN 48.0 64% 59 81%
A.J. Green CIN 49.3 66% 58 79%
Tyler Boyd CIN 58.0 77% 57 78%
Mike Thomas CIN 24.5 33% 26 36%
Odell Beckham CLE 52.3 79% 48 84%
Jarvis Landry CLE 48.2 72% 44 77%
Rashard Higgins CLE 23.8 36% 34 60%
Taywan Taylor CLE 10.0 18% 10 18%
Donovan Peoples-Jones CLE 15.3 21% 3 5%
Amari Cooper DAL 65.3 82% 79 89%
Michael Gallup DAL 69.5 89% 72 81%
CeeDee Lamb DAL 55.7 70% 60 67%
Cedrick Wilson DAL 14.8 19% 25 28%
Noah Brown DAL 17.7 22% 23 26%
Tim Patrick DEN 53.0 80% 59 92%
Jerry Jeudy DEN 45.8 69% 47 73%
DaeSean Hamilton DEN 37.6 57% 38 59%
Marvin Jones DET 60.2 88% 62 81%
Kenny Golladay DET 52.0 76% 57 74%
Danny Amendola DET 33.4 49% 27 35%
Jamal Agnew DET 13.3 20% 19 25%
Marvin Hall DET 12.2 18% 17 22%
Marquez Valdes-Scantling GB 51.8 78% 53 84%
Davante Adams GB 53.3 75% 52 83%
Malik Taylor GB 27.0 43% 32 51%
Equanimeous St. Brown GB 11.0 17% 11 17%
Will Fuller HOU 48.7 81% 66 92%
Brandin Cooks HOU 49.5 82% 63 88%
Randall Cobb HOU 41.2 69% 44 61%
Kenny Stills HOU 19.5 32% 16 22%
T.Y. Hilton IND 49.7 75% 59 94%
Zach Pascal IND 54.0 82% 58 92%
Marcus Johnson IND 34.7 55% 40 63%
De'Michael Harris IND 12.0 19% 12 19%
D.J. Chark JAC 53.2 81% 57 89%
Keelan Cole JAC 48.7 73% 48 75%
Laviska Shenault JAC 43.6 66% 47 73%
Chris Conley JAC 27.2 41% 15 23%
Collin Johnson JAC 14.7 22% 15 23%
Demarcus Robinson KC 43.8 61% 69 95%
Tyreek Hill KC 61.7 88% 67 92%
Mecole Hardman KC 34.0 48% 29 40%
Byron Pringle KC 10.8 15% 28 38%
Robert Woods LA 59.5 90% 57 95%
Cooper Kupp LA 57.2 87% 55 92%
Josh Reynolds LA 45.0 68% 50 83%
DeVante Parker MIA 50.2 76% 46 82%
Preston Williams MIA 45.8 70% 40 71%
Jakeem Grant MIA 18.8 29% 20 36%
Isaiah Ford MIA 34.7 52% 18 32%
Adam Thielen MIN 58.3 92% 52 93%
Justin Jefferson MIN 47.8 75% 50 89%
Chad Beebe MIN 21.8 32% 22 39%
Bisi Johnson MIN 18.3 32% 11 20%
Damiere Byrd NE 62.4 93% 55 96%
N'Keal Harry NE 53.2 79% 51 89%
Julian Edelman NE 46.8 70% 43 75%
Darius Slayton NYG 56.2 91% 40 83%
Austin Mack NYG 36.0 75% 36 75%
Golden Tate NYG 41.8 70% 30 63%
C.J. Board NYG 21.0 34% 10 21%
Breshad Perriman NYJ 46.3 73% 63 89%
Jamison Crowder NYJ 57.0 84% 63 89%
Jeff Smith NYJ 67.0 93% 60 85%
Braxton Berrios NYJ 29.2 44% 16 23%
Greg Ward PHI 44.3 62% 58 81%
Travis Fulgham PHI 47.0 73% 58 81%
John Hightower PHI 42.2 60% 43 60%
J.J. Arcega-Whiteside PHI 16.4 23% 12 17%
Chase Claypool PIT 41.4 58% 51 78%
James Washington PIT 42.6 61% 43 66%
JuJu Smith-Schuster PIT 54.2 78% 42 65%
Ray-Ray McCloud PIT 11.3 16% 13 20%
Brandon Aiyuk SF 57.6 83% 62 85%
Deebo Samuel SF 47.3 69% 60 82%
Kendrick Bourne SF 49.8 73% 41 56%
Mike Evans TB 57.3 84% 51 78%
Chris Godwin TB 53.7 79% 40 62%
Scotty Miller TB 37.0 54% 23 35%
Tyler Johnson TB 29.8 42% 17 26%
Justin Watson TB 33.5 49% 13 20%
A.J. Brown TEN 58.7 79% 63 84%
Adam Humphries TEN 39.5 54% 41 55%
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine TEN 28.0 40% 27 36%
Kalif Raymond TEN 24.6 35% 21 28%
Cameron Batson TEN 33.0 47% 20 27%
Terry McLaurin WSH 63.2 95% 70 96%
Dontrelle Inman WSH 46.7 69% 66 90%
Isaiah Wright WSH 46.5 71% 57 78%
Antonio Gandy-Golden WSH 13.2 21% 7 10%
Cam Sims WSH 4.0 6% 7 10%


- D.J. Chark was questionable with an ankle injury for most of the week leading up to Sunday's game, so it was a bit of a mystery how he'd be deployed in the game. It turns out he was totally fine, playing on a season-high 89 percent of the teams' snaps. He also recorded 14 targets in the game, which was the second-most in a game in his career. For those of you waiting for the Laviska Shenault breakout, you'll be pleased to know that his snap share has risen in each of the Jacksonville Jaguars' last three games, and he has had at least seven opportunities in those games. Keelan Cole remains heavily utilized as well, with a snap share above 70 percent for the fourth straight game, and has cashed in three scores so far this season.

- After missing the first three weeks on Injured Reserve, Deebo Samuel was worked in slowly his first game back (34 percent snap share) but has been given a full workload in the past two games, with snap shares of 89 percent and 92 percent in those two games. He's still being used as a gadget, short-area player, but he doesn't seem to have lost a step as one of the more elusive players in the league. This shouldn't take away from how rookie Brandon Aiyuk has been used, seeing at least 72 percent of snaps in each of the five games that he's played. Outside of those two, there aren't any many viable fantasy wide receivers on the San Francisco 49ers. Even Aiyuk and Samuel are struggling to get consistent opportunities as they're averaging 5 and 5.7 targets per game, respectively.

- Somehow, some way, the Chicago Bears are 5-1 and lead the NFC North. But, what's even more surprising is how the Bears' wide receiver room has taken shape this season. First and foremost, Allen Robinson has asserted himself as the number one option (78+ percent snap share in every game), regardless of who's throwing him the ball. Behind him, though, is where things get a little messy. Entering the season, many expected Anthony Miller to be the clear WR2, but that hasn't been the case as rookie Darnell Mooney has been carving into that role. Mooney has out-snapped Miller in each of the past five games and holds a four-target lead on the season.

Tight End

NameTeamYTD
Snaps
Per Game
YTD
Team
Snap %
Week 6
Snaps
Week 6
Snap %
Darrell DanielsARI36.053%4471%
Dan ArnoldARI36.051%2642%
Hayden HurstATL53.573%6885%
Luke StockerATL28.840%3139%
Nick BoyleBAL41.566%5677%
Mark AndrewsBAL40.265%3751%
Tyler KroftBUF27.344%3057%
Ian ThomasCAR42.264%4769%
Chris ManhertzCAR36.754%3349%
Jimmy GrahamCHI46.870%4568%
Demetrius HarrisCHI28.542%2436%
Cole KmetCHI21.231%2335%
Drew SampleCIN54.073%5575%
Cethan CarterCIN12.217%2332%
Austin HooperCLE54.782%4070%
David NjokuCLE20.331%2340%
Harrison BryantCLE33.851%2137%
Dalton SchultzDAL59.275%7281%
Blake BellDAL22.228%1921%
Jake ButtDEN22.835%3961%
Nick VannettDEN24.036%2945%
Albert OkwuegbunamDEN24.038%2438%
T.J. HockensonDET47.670%4660%
Jesse JamesDET34.851%4255%
Robert TonyanGB42.062%3759%
Marcedes LewisGB26.538%2133%
Jace SternbergerGB16.425%2032%
Darren FellsHOU39.765%6388%
Pharaoh BrownHOU16.326%3042%
Jack DoyleIND40.862%3962%
Trey BurtonIND32.050%3556%
James O'ShaughnessyJAC33.050%4875%
Tyler DavisJAC16.025%1625%
Tyler EifertJAC35.052%58%
Travis KelceKC61.387%6589%
Nick KeizerKC19.728%2129%
Tyler HigbeeLA53.881%4575%
Gerald EverettLA29.245%3050%
Michael GesickiMIA38.058%3766%
Durham SmytheMIA27.642%1934%
Adam ShaheenMIA21.232%1629%
Irv Smith Jr.MIN41.065%4479%
Kyle RudolphMIN44.770%3868%
Ryan IzzoNE55.081%3561%
Devin AsiasiNE16.225%2442%
Evan EngramNYG53.787%3981%
Kaden SmithNYG25.041%2348%
Chris HerndonNYJ44.767%4563%
Ryan GriffinNYJ25.338%2637%
Zach ErtzPHI62.088%4867%
Richard RodgersPHI23.833%4360%
Eric EbronPIT50.873%4671%
Vance McDonaldPIT39.457%4062%
George KittleSF67.099%7197%
Ross DwelleySF23.834%2129%
Rob GronkowskiTB56.082%5585%
Cameron BrateTB14.721%2335%
Tanner HudsonTB10.715%812%
Geoff SwaimTEN38.554%4965%
Anthony FirkserTEN25.835%4155%
Jonnu SmithTEN53.075%2939%
Logan ThomasWSH57.286%6386%
Jeremy SprinkleWSH11.517%1115%


- What we're seeing in Miami is odd in a couple of ways. The Miami Dolphins are currently second in the AFC East ahead of the New England Patriots. But what's odder is how their tight ends are being used. Mike Gesicki entered 2020 with breakout potential, but that hasn't quite come to fruition yet despite how well the Dolphins are playing. Gesicki posted a 73 percent snap share in Week 1 but hasn't been above 70 percent since then. Part of that has been the slight emergence of Adam Shaheen. Despite snap shares of just 57 percent and 29 percent the past two weeks, Shaheen has found the end zone in both games. Furthermore, Durham Smythe is consistently getting around a 40 percent snap share. Unfortunately, Gesicki's ceiling may be limited if this usage continues.

- Evan Engram is another tight end, similar to Gesicki, who many had high expectations for entering the season. This isn't for lack of playing time, though. Engram's 88 percent snap share on the season ranks fourth among tight ends, and his 18 percent target share is also among the top-10 tight ends. He's struggled mightily to turn that into production, though, with only one game with more than 35 receiving yards. The only competition -- if you can even call it that -- is with Kaden Smith. Smith has consistently been getting around a 40 percent snap share but only has 12 targets on the season. Hopefully, Engram can turn it around and start making good on the opportunities he's being given.