Snap Count Observations from Week 9 (Fantasy Football)
Last week, this article focused on rookie RBs and how much, or little, playing time they were getting as the season progressed. This week, it’s all about once and current stars returning to the field. There will still be rookie RB talk because Frank Reich hates us, but we had the best RB in fantasy football come back from the IR this week and two former WR1s take the field with new teams for the first time. Let’s see who made the most of their playing time in Wek 10.
100% Club
Every week, I like to highlight any RB/WR/TE that plays every offensive snap for his team. This week, we had two players that reached the mark. DK Metcalf played all 65 snaps for the Seahawks and Logan Thomas played all 54 for Washington. This is Thomas’ first time on the list but the 2nd for Metcalf. DK Metcalf is the first player to make the list twice this season.
Snap Count Observations from Week 9
Baltimore WRs (Marquise Brown 55, Willie Snead 34, Devin Duvernay 26, Miles Boykin 23, Dez Bryant 2, James Proche 1)
While normally there isn’t enough volume to get me to talk about the Ravens’ passing game in this article, it’s also the return of Dez Bryant, so I’ll make an exception. A very small exception since he played two snaps and was sent right back down to the practice squad after the game. If you wasted a roster spot on the former Dallas superstar, you can safely cut him again.
Carolina RBs (Christian McCaffrey 59, Mike Davis 26, Trenton Cannon 10)
In a much more triumphant return, CMC was back and barely missed a beat. While he came nowhere near his snap counts from last year, he did play 71% of the offensive plays and finished as the RB2 on the week. His final stat line was 151 total yards and two TDs. While Mike Davis did not completely disappear, he did next to nothing for fantasy purposes, finishing with just 5 fantasy points in .5 PPR. McCaffrey did suffer a shoulder injury at the end of this game and may miss more time, so I hope you held onto Davis.
Dallas WRs (Michael Gallup 68, Amari Cooper 59, Ceedee Lamb 38)
The offense gets way worse and Gallup’s snap counts go way up. It looked for a while that Gallup would be the odd man out of this offense but, with a new QB every week, he seems to be the darling of the backups. It hasn’t led to any huge fantasy days, and he was once again 3rd in scoring among the big-3 WRs this week, but his playing time makes him worthy of a flyer for bye-week strapped teams. Lamb and Cooper bounced back after being basically ignored in Week 8. We’ll see who is playing QB for Dallas again in Week 11, as the Cowboys have a Week 10 bye.
Green Bay TEs (Robert Tonyan 41, Marcedes Lewis 32, Jace Sternberger 18)
It’s probably time to crush all hope of Big Bob Tonyan becoming a thing in fantasy football. After his huge weeks in Davante Adams‘ absence, it looked like he might be TE1 material. Instead, he is vultured for TDs every week by Lewis or Sternberger and is lucky to see four targets. Each TE was only targeted once in this game and it’s time to move on from any Green Bay TEs.
Houston TEs (Darren Fells 33, Pharoah Brown 25, Jordan Akins 22)
Darren Fells left a decent impression while Jordan Akins was out but he went right back to TE-by-committee upon his return. If either Akins or Fells miss time, feel free to fire up the other, but while both are healthy, neither are can be trusted for fantasy purposes. Fells barely cracked 50% of snaps played and, while each TE was targeted, nobody broke 30 yards.
Indianapolis RBs (Jordan Wilkins 23, Nyheim Hines 23, Jonathan Taylor 21)
Fantasy managers knew this would be a tough matchup for Jonathan Taylor but there was hope when they lifted his Questionable injury tag before the game. Instead, no RB played more than 34% of the snaps and nobody did much with their limited touches. Taylor did manage a TD on just six carries but it somehow made nobody feel any better.
Miami RBs (Salvon Ahmed 28, Jordan Howard 21, Patrick Laird 12)
In case you were wondering how much the Dolphins hate Jordan Howard: he played fewer snaps than Salvon Ahmed. You’re forgiven for not knowing who that is because I legitimately had no idea. Ahmed actually backed-up Myles Gaskin in college and out-snapped Howard in his first game as a pro. Howard managed 19 yards and a TD on 10 carries and looks washed as can be at this point. Matt Brieda and DeAndre Washington should be ready to play in Week 10, so none of these guys matter anymore.
San Francisco TEs (Ross Dwelley 42, Jordan Reed 13)
With the loss of the 2nd best TE in fantasy football, fans were hoping for something big from the just activated Jordan Reed. It did not happen. He was targetted twice and caught just one ball for three yards. Dwelley saw the field much more and caught three balls for 52 yards. Reed will eventually take this job over but he’s not quite healthy enough yet…and he’s Jordan Reed, so who knows when he will be.
Tampa Bay WRs (Chris Godwin 47, Mike Evans 33, Antonio Brown 39, Scotty Miller 19)
Our last return of the week came in the form of Tom Brady‘s apparent best friend, Antonio Brown. The Buccaneers offense was DREADFUL but is worth noting the number of snaps that Brown played in his first game back. He caught three of five targets as the WR3 and played 78% of the snaps in the blowout loss. There will be better days for this offense as a whole and it will be interesting to see these three WRs in a more normally paced game.
Washington RBs (JD McKissic 45, Antonio Gibson 25, Peyton Barber 1)
Antonio Gibson was the RB17 in fantasy on the week but his managers are still disappointed. Why? Because JD McKissic was the RB3! Adding to the madness McKissic didn’t score a TD or break 100 scrimmage yards. Instead, he caught nine balls on 14 targets. 14 targets. That ties Alvin Kamara for the most RB-targets in a single game this season. JD McKissic and Alvin Kamara. Same sentence. What is 2020?