Snap Count Observations: Transactions to Make for Week 7 (Fantasy Football)
San Francisco 49ers
Isaac Guerendo 46%; Patrick Taylor 25%
After Jordan Mason left the game with an injured shoulder, the 49ers gave Isaac Guerendo most of the clean-up work, but Patrick Taylor was worked in as well. Taylor was the only running back to receive a target after Mason’s injury, but Guerendo appears to be the primary backup. Kyle Juszczyk was worked in a bit more as well, so the approach was a bit of an “all hands on deck” approach.
Still, Kyle Shanahan prefers to run his offense through one running back, so if Jordan Mason were to miss any time, Guerendo is the most likely beneficiary. He ran okay from a box score perspective (10 attempts, 99 yards), but most of that production came on a 76-yard dash that somehow didn’t end in a touchdown.
Guerendo is probably a short-term replacement without a ton of long-term value, especially with Christian McCaffrey’s return looming.
Conclusion: Take a shot at Isaac Guerendo on the waiver wire, but don’t break the bank.
Arizona Cardinals
Xavier Weaver 71%
Marvin Harrison Jr. left the game pretty early due to a concussion and the Cardinals replaced him with Xavier Weaver. This result is barely notable as he registered only one target and did not catch any passes. He ran a lot of routes and did precisely nothing with them.
The Cardinals look broken ever since that loss to the Lions, and Marvin Harrison was apparently the only exciting part of this offense. The bigger beneficiary of Harrison’s absence was Tre McBride, who saw eight targets and caught all of them. Greg Dortch and Michael Wilson are fine role players, but the entire offense takes a major hit without Marv.
Conclusion: Avoid playing Cardinals other than Trey McBride and James Conner. Even Kyler is not the sure-fire starter he seemed to be at the beginning of the season.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Evan Engram 61%
Evan Engram made an instant impact on the Jaguars’ offense. His return was a welcome safety blanket for Trevor Lawrence, who threw Engram’s way 10 times. Achieving 10 targets and 102 receiving yards on only 61% of the snaps and fewer than 60% of the routes is a serious accomplishment. The only downer of the day was his fumble.
Engram usually plays much more than 61% of the snaps (he averaged 79% in 2023). So, there is room for Engram’s role to grow in this offense.
Conclusion: I’d be looking to buy Evan Engram.
Houston Texans
Xavier Hutchinson did not fill Nico Collins’ role on the Texans’ offense. He may play a similar position, but instead, the Texans opted to rely more on Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell. It’s good to see that the Texans increased the usage of their best pass-catchers rather than trying to keep people in their roles. With Collins out for the next few weeks, Dell and Diggs look like very strong plays.
Many people, including me, picked up Xavier Hutchinson just to see if the guy had any juice. It does not appear that he does. He caught neither of his two targets, and he didn’t perform well enough to get on the field much.
Conclusion: You can drop Xavier Hutchinson if you took a shot on him.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Jaylen Warren 37%; Najee Harris 46%
Jaylen Warren returned from an injury and played a solid amount. He certainly ate into Najee’s playing time a little bit. Najee still saw plenty of carries and remains the clear leader in the backfield (14 carries for 106 rushing yards and one TD and two targets resulting in two catches for 16 receiving yards). Warren was worked in as well with six carries of his own and three targets. He was very ineffective though (1.167 yards per carry, 3.67 yards per catch). He could be knocking off the rust, but the Steelers remain a low-ceiling offense. I’m not seeing much consistent value on this team outside of Harris and sometimes Pickens, but maybe things could change if Russell Wilson does indeed become the starting QB.
Conclusion: I am not adding Jaylen Warren; let someone else do it.
Los Angeles Chargers
J.K. Dobbins 73%; Kimani Vidal 24%
I’ve talked a lot about Dobbins in this post over the year, and he has clearly taken over this backfield, and he looks great. His workload is crazy for the injuries he has suffered in the past (25 carries in this game!).
Interestingly though, Kimani Vidal played a little bit in this one and received a target on an exciting route out of the backfield. It resulted in a 38-yard receiving touchdown. Other than that play, however, he wasn’t too involved – just one other catch for two yards and four carries that barely exceeded 10 yards.
Vidal might be worth a stash as a $0-1 bid if you have space on your bench. Dobbins’ injury history certainly leaves the door open for someone else to dominate this backfield. I am not sure it’s Vidal, but he reminds me of Austin Ekeler so much. Maybe? As I said, it’s worth a flyer to see what happens.
Conclusion: Vidal is worth a speculative add if you have space and don’t want to spend any FAAB money.