Snap Count Observations: Week 8

Snaps lead to opportunity, opportunity leads to production, production leads to fantasy points, and fantasy points lead to #FootClanTitles (not the dark side!). Let’s get into some interesting snap count situations from Week 8.

Panthers WRs – Devin Funchess 74% / D.J. Moore 71% / Curtis Samuel 40% / Jarius Wright 26%

As I discussed in my film review on D.J. Moore, now is the time to grab him off waivers if you weren’t already stashing him (like I was). The key to the Panthers’ offense in Week 8 was to get the ball into Moore’s hands and let him create yards. In this game, Moore caught five of six targets for 90 yards and also had 2 rushing attempts for 39 yards. Devin Funchess is a fine receiver and was certainly better than former teammate Kelvin Benjamin, but that didn’t take much. Moore is the future star receiver of this team, and they are not trying to hide the fact that they are pursuing that notion. His snap counts have been slowly rising all season, but the Panthers’ coaching staff finally pushed him over the 70% mark — a sign that they are ready to trust him in this offense going forward.

Seahawks WRs – Doug Baldwin 85% / David Moore 71% / Tyler Lockett 70%

Many people will be flocking to the waivers this week to grab the sophomore receiver, David Moore. He’s had four touchdowns in the last three weeks and with the recent release of veteran receiver Brandon Marshall, it seems a possibility that his production could continue. With that being said, I think right now is an excellent buy-low opportunity for Baldwin. Since coming back from injury in Week 4, Baldwin has not dipped below 75% of snaps in any of these games. Additionally, Baldwin has led his team in targets (18) and air yards (216). Baldwin might not have many touchdowns under his belt so far this season, but with Russell Wilson starting to get hot, I think there is a good chance that Baldwin returns to form quickly.

Jaguars RBs – T.J. Yeldon 58% / Carlos Hyde 44%

This was the first game for Carlos Hyde in a Jacksonville Jaguars uniform this season after being traded by the Browns. Hyde looked… uninspiring as he rushed six times for 11 yards and missed two targets, but we can give him some leeway considering the Jaguars playbook is still very new to him. On the other hand, Yeldon provided fantasy owners with a serviceable performance in PPR formats — he rushed only twice for seven yards but caught seven of nine targets for 83 yards. One thing is certain, the rushing attack of the Jaguars deeply misses Leonard Fournette who, according to recent reports, is expected to return Week 10 against the Colts — just one week away. By the time fantasy playoffs roll around, this backfield could be very messy.

Colts TEs – Jack Doyle 73% / Mo Alie-Cox 32% / Ryan Hewitt 27% / Eric Ebron 22%

I know that Ebron didn’t get a ton of targets in Week 8 against the Raiders in a juicy matchup, but to see his snap percentage way down at 22% is concerning. I even had to list the FB/TE blocker Ryan Hewitt before Ebron! Upon returning from a hip injury, Doyle seems to have leaped directly back to the top of the target chain for Colts’ TEs. Doyle caught six of seven targets for 70 yards and a touchdown. If you played Ebron this last week, you still got a decent fantasy day out of him. With that being said, you might want to consider tossing out Ebron’s name as a trade piece in your league chat. Mo Alie-Cox did play more snaps than Ebron in this game and he also caught a touchdown pass, but that was his only target and just his sixth target all season. The pecking order going forward will still be Doyle > Ebron > Alie-Cox with Hewitt mainly blocking.

Raiders RB – Doug Martin 56% / Jalen Richard 44%

And finally, let’s take the look at the Raiders’ backfield sans Marshawn Lynch after he was placed on IR for a core injury. Admittedly, I did not expect much from Martin in this game, considering the Colts haven’t been lenient to the RB position — they’re 14th in the league for fantasy points allowed to RBs. However, Martin rushed 13 times for 72 yards and caught both of his targets for another 17 yards. Unfortunately, he did fumble the ball once. Richard also had a good fantasy outing, catching all eight of his targets for 50 yards while also contributing 14 yards rushing on two attempts. This breakdown of touches will be almost exactly the same every game going forward. Since the Raiders are currently 31st in the league in points allowed per game with 31.1, I would expect Richard to be used more reliably going forward.