This league is always moving and shaking - players getting benched, guys getting hurt, young prospects carving out a role. The best way to stay and top of that is to keep your finger to the pulse of the snaps to see who is actually playing and who the next man up might be. So let’s get into it and figure out how to win a championship (or some money in DFS). 

 


 

Arizona Cardinals

WR: Same as it’s been since Hollywood returned. DeAndre Hopkins (59 of 64) and Marquise Brown (58) play virtually every snap. AJ Green and Robbie Anderson really don’t play enough to consider in your playoffs. 

RB: James Conner is super dialed in - 58 of 64 snaps. The next man up is likely Keaontay Ingram.

TE: Trey McBride has been playing the Zach Ertz role and he had good usage once again - 55 snaps, 36 routes, no pass block snaps. He even lined up at WR for 26 of them. Too bad he doesn’t have a real quarterback. 

 

Atlanta Falcons

WR: Drake London and Olamide Zaccheus are the only wide receivers playing real snaps because they use multiple tight ends. Zaccheus could be a random DFS dart but he’s not trustworthy. 

RB: Cordarelle Patterson played 37 snaps and skewed passing slightly while Tyler Allgeier played 36 and got a couple extra run plays. It’s a bit of a coin flip here. 

TE: There hasn’t been a viable pass catching tight end since Kyle Pitts got hurt. The closest you are going to get is Anthony Firkser who led with 16 routes but that was on 40 drop backs. 

 

Baltimore Ravens

WR: Nightmare here with Rashod Bateman out and now Devin Duvernay banged up. They signed Sammy Watkins and they already have Demarcus Robinson but they will probably fill that void with fullbacks and tight ends. Patrick Ricard already plays a massive snap share.

RB: JK Dobbins is back and he’s the clear primary back on the ground. Justice Hill spells him on pass downs, Gus Edwards on run downs.

TE: Mark Andrews continues to play virtually every snap and run every route so you never have to worry about that. It’s the quality of targets. Isaiah Likely ran 23 of 37 routes so not consistent enough usage. Josh Oliver just blocks. 


Buffalo Bills

WR: Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis are your flanker and split end playing out wide. Isaiah McKenzie works in the slot - he wasn’t playing a full snap share before and now Cole Beasley is mixing in which makes him even less appealing. 

RB: Devin Singletary continues to lead the show. He played 46 snaps and played both more run and pass snaps than anyone else. James Cook is the next man up with 28 snaps but he hasn’t carved out a niche yet. 

TE: The usage has always been good for Dawson Knox and this time the matchup was too so the targets were there. They are playing in a cyclone this week though it’s hard to trust anyone outside of Diggs. 

 

Carolina Panthers

WR: DJ Moore has played almost 97% of the snaps on the season so you can count on him for that. As of late Terrace Marshall has been right there. They don’t have a third WR that plays a full snap share as Shi Smith and Laviska Shenault rotate with tight ends. 

RB: D’Onta Foreman has consistently gotten more run work but, in this pass-heavy game script, Chuba Hubbard played more snaps. That seems to be our split moving forward. 

TE: You can’t start any of these guys in a real league but your best bet would be Tommy Tremble if you HAD to pick one. He ran 17 of 31 routes.

 

Chicago Bears

WR: With the injuries to Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool, it was Byron Pringle and Dante Pettis that stepped up this week. Claypool is doubtful so that’s likely the case again. Rookie Velus Jones Jr. occupied the slot so he’s the third guy. 

RB: We felt good about David Montgomeyr but now Khalil Herbert returns to muddy things a bit. With the wind in this game, there should be plenty of chances to run.

TE: Cole Kmet has now played every single snap in three straight games. Can’t play more than 100%. 

 

Cincinnati Bengals

WR: We are back to business as usual. This team DOES use heavy three WR sets so Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd all play plenty. 

RB: Joe Mixon played more than Samaje Perine on both run and pass downs so it’s his show.

TE: Hayden Hurst has already been ruled out but the Patriots are tough on tight ends as is. Obviously, you aren’t starting Mitchell Wilcox. 

 

Cleveland Browns

WR: Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones are locked in as the every snap WRs. With David Bell hurt, Michael Woods stepped up in the slot. The wind is going to be crazy for this game so avoid them all if you can. 

RB: Kareem Hunt is essentially just a backup. Nick Chubb is dealing with a foot ailment but is supposed to play so Hunt is useless again. 

TE: David Njoku played 96% of the snaps last week, 94% this week. But it’s the wind that worries us, not his usage. 

 

Dallas Cowboys

WR: CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, and Noah Brown play virtually all the WR snaps as of now. The only question is how much TY Hilton will play. Those snaps will come a the expense of Noah Brown. 

RB: Ezekiel Elliott on short yardage, Tony Pollard in space. That’s the deal. Both can produce in this environment and they sometimes get on the field at the same time. But there is one ball. 

TE: Dalton Schultz had one of the highest snap shares of any tight end wit 73 of 75 snaps. He did get four targets but Peyton Hendershot scored the TD, despite running only 6 routes. That’s how she goes sometimes. 

 

Denver Broncos

WR: Cortland Sutton is optimistic about playing so keep an eye on that. If he does, it should be back to the Jeudy and Sutton show. Brandon Johnosn and Freddie Swain have been stepping up with injuries to KJ Hamler and Kendal Hinton. 

RB: Latavius Murray is the lead dog. Mike Boone is on injured reserve now so Marlon Mack is the next man up. 

TE: Greg Dulcich plays a good snap share and runs a lot of routes (28 this week was second only to Jeudy’s 30). The offense has been bad but there are so many tough matchups and bad weather, you could do worse than Dulcich. 

 

Detroit Lions

WR: Amon-Ra St. Brown and DJ Chark play the full snaps. Josh Reynolds, Kalif Raymond, and Jameson Williams all rotate. The idea of Jamo is exciting but he’s really not playing close to enough.

RB: The nightmare rolls on. D’Andre Swift: 27, Justin Jackson: 22, Jamaal Williams: 21. Williams gets the short work and Swift gets more passing but it’s so hard to trust anyone.

TE: You can’t start Lions tight ends in any format. If you were FORCED to, it would oddly be Shane Zylstra who ran 16 routes to 8 for Brock Wright.

 

Green Bay Packers

WR: Allen Lazard (67 of 71) and Christian Watson (62) are the full time outside guys, Randall Cobb (29) and Romeo Doubs (23) split snaps in the slot. Will be interesting to see if Doubs gets back to the snap shares he was seeing earlier. 

RB: Aaron Jones healed up over the bye week so he played 40 snaps to 26 for AJ Dillon but Dillon got the goal line carries. Dillon technically has been getting those all year but there haven’t been many of them.

TE: Robert Tonyan played roughly 50% of the snaps every single week. It’s just not enough for a guy with his skill set because he’s not going to break off big plays. 

 

Houston Texans

WR: Nico Collins went to IR but Brandin Cooks is back. Will be interesting to see who takes a back seat out of Chris Moore and Phillip Dorsett but my money is on Moore keeping his snap share since he’s looked good. 

RB: We got some answers here with Dameon Pierce out. Royce Freeman came out of left field to lead in carries with Dare Ogunbawale contributing and leading on pass plays (41 to 28 for Freeman). Rex Burkhead only played 12 snaps. 

TE: Teagan Quitoriano plays more because of his blocking skills but he and Jordan Akins each ran 22 routes. Akins is the better option. 

 

Indianapolis Colts

WR: Michael Pittman, Parris Campbell, Alec Pierce. Those three guys play all the WR snaps. 

RB: Life after Jonathan Taylor saw 53 snaps from Zack Moss, only 25 from Deon Jackson. Though we know Deon Jackson has pass catching chops and the Colts were winning for most of the game (cough). So Deon could see more work this week. 

TE: They dropped back 37 times. Mo Alie-Cox ran 15 routes, Kylen Granson ran 12, Jelani Woods ran 11. Yikes. 

 

Jacksonville Jaguars

WR: Zay Jones and Christian Kirk are the clear top dogs with Marvin Jones rotating in. That is locked in.

RB: Darrell Henderson was released so it’s Travis Etienne and JaMycal Hasty now. Etienne played 49 of 56 snaps so it’s really just Etienne. 

TE: Evan Engram haz looked fantastic and he once again played 60 of 70 snaps and ran a ton of routes. He’s looking like a potential league winner. 

 

Kansas City Chiefs

WR: JuJu Smith-Schuster has been the clear top dog as of late working underneath. Justin Watson has played a lot but mostly for his blocking skills. Marquez Valdes-Scantling (41 of 77 snaps) and Skyy Moore (29) leave a lot to be desired. Kadarius Toney mostly played special teams. 

RB: Isaiah Pacheco continues to start and get more carries but Jerick McKinnon plays pass snaps and this is a pass-heavy offense. McKinnon simply looks better right now.

TE: Just when you thought it couldn’t get better for Travis Kelce, he gets a primo matchup vs. the Seahawks. 

 

Las Vegas Raiders

WR: Davante Adams and Mack Hollins are the full time outside wide receivers. Hunter Renfrow returns and he already played more snaps than Keelan Cole in the slot though Keelan Cole made the heroic play. 

RB: Josh Jacobs is a beast. Lock him into your lineups and throw away the key. 

TE: Darren Waller was eased back in so Foster Moreau played more snaps but Waller still ran 10 more routes than Moreau. Waller is still a little risky but he should see more snaps this week. 

 

Los Angeles Chargers

WR: Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, Josh Palmer. Everyone is healthy these days (knock on wood). 

RB: Austin Ekeler gets the bulk of the work while Josh Kelley plays on some sporadic run downs. Ekeler is a high end RB1, Kelley just a handcuff. 

TE: Gerald Everett is not as exciting an option as he was when the WRs were hurt. Even at his peak he never played more than 70% of the snaps. This week he played 62%.

 

Los Angeles Rams

WR: Yeesh. Cooper Kupp, Allen Robinson, and now Ben Skowronek too. That will leave Van Jefferson, Tutu Atwell, and guys like Austin Trammel and Brandon Powell. Ew. 

RB: Cam Akers is the clear lead dog in the run game. Malcolm Brown played some in the pass game. Kyren Williams is on the back burner.

TE:  Tyler Higbee blocked on over 30% of his pass plays again. The last four games his routes have been so far down you simply cannot trust him. Even with the WRs hurt. 

 

Miami Dolphins

WR: Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are every down guys. Trent Sherfield plays the slot but he mixes and matches with tight ends and fullback Alec Ingold.

RB: Jeff Wilson should be back from injury but Raheem Mostert has been so hot that it’s hard to go away from him right now. 

TE: Mike Gesicki is limited to a very part-time slot guy while Durham Smythe plays in-line tight end. Neither are viable options. 

 

Minnesota Vikings

WR: This one is easy. Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, every snap. KJ Osborn is the third fiddle. Osborn has really only popped in the two super shootout games with Buffalo and this week so it’s hard to chase those points. 

RB: Dalvin Cook is the man, Alexander Mattison is the handcuff. 

TE:  TJ Hockenson is one of the few bright spots at tight end. 86 of 91 snaps this week. 

 

New England Patriots

WR: Jakobi Meyers returned so it was Tyquan Thornton and Nelson Agholor on the outside, Meyers in the slot. DeVante Parker is still in concussion protocol. 

RB: Rhamondre Stevenson and Damien Harris are both questionable so this one may come down to a game day decision. Stevenson is the guy you want but Harris is an option if Mondre is out and Harris is in. If both are out, we like the speedy Pierre Strong.

TE: Jonnu Smith does not play enough and Hunter Henry, despite playing 52 of 65 snaps, just isn’t getting targetted enough. He needs Bailey Zappe back. 

 

New Orleans Saints

WR: With Chris Olave banged up, Rashid Shaheed led in snaps then they basically just leaned on tight ends. With the wind this week, I’m not starting any Saints WRs.

RB: Alvin Kamara is still the guy but he’s just not producing. Taysom Hill is the vulture threat.

TE: Weird set up, as always. Adam Trautman led in snaps (36) but only ran 6 routes. Juwan Johnson (28) ran 13 routes. Then Taysom Hill played 24 snaps, ran 11 routes, and did his weird thing. Too windy for Juwan despite his red zone succes.

 

New York Giants

WR: Darius Slayton, Isaiah Hodgins, and Richie James all played a ton of snaps which makes things easy. Slayton is in a good spot with this week with his matchup in a dome. 

RB: Saquon Barkley had been dealing with a neck issue but he played 54 of 63 snaps to he is BACK.

TE: Daniel Bellinger quietly played 62 of 63 snaps. We wrote about why he’s a sneaky good play in our TE DFS Coach article this week. 

 

New York Jets

WR: Garrett Wilson continues to play every snap which is great. With Corey Davis out, Elijah Moore played a good snap share but Davis should be back in Week 16.

RB: Same set up we discussed last week - Zonovan Knight gets the run work while Michael Carter plays more on pass downs. Plan accordingly. 

TE: Out of 41 pass plays, Tyler Conklin ran 21 routes, CJ Uzomah ran 10. Don’t love that. 

 

Philadelphia Eagles

WR: DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown on the outside play pretty much all the snaps (Smith ran all the routes, AJ Brown ran all but one). Quez Watkins is the slot but he only ran 29 of 44 routes. He’s not an option with Goedert back. 

RB: Miles Sanders is the lead back but Jalen Hurts vultured the touchdowns. With Hurts out, Sanders could have a bigger opportunity. 

TE: Dallas Goedert is back so the only question is how much he plays. 


Pittsburgh Steelers

WR: Diontae Johnson and George Pickens are the only guys you can really use for fantasy because Steven Sims, Myles Boykin, and Gunner Olszewski rotate too much.

RB: Najee Harris played his typical large snap share, Jaylen Warren is just a backup.

TE: Pat Freiermuth is clearly not okay. 55% of the snaps three weeks in a row and this week - no targets. So hard to trust him right now. 

 

San Francisco 49ers

WR: We got our answer here - with Deebo out, Jauan Jennings plays opposite of Brandon Aiyuk. Since they use a fullback, there is no real third WR to bank on. 

RB: Christian McCaffrey is the man - 57 of 64 snaps.

TE: George Kittle played 54 of 64 snaps and scored twice. You can at least count on the snaps. 


Seattle Seahawks

WR: Tyler Lockett will miss the rest of the fantasy relevant games after having finger surgery. Marquise Goodwin will step up opposite DK Metcalf. They use two TEs instead of a full time WR3.

RB: Kenneth Walker is expected back so he’s the only guy you can utilize from this backfield.

TE: Noah Fant seemed to be pulling away from Will Dissly but then this week Dissly played 37 snaps to his 33. Fant is a slightly better option than usual with Lockett out but still capped ceiling.

 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

WR: Chris Godwin and Mike Evans every snap. Julio Jones is typically the third man but he has a knee injury so it will likely be Russell Gage. 

RB: This has been back and forth - this time Leonard Fournette played 43 snaps to 29 for White. Fournette played 29 pass plays to 17 for White so he might be the better option right now.

TE: Cade Otton is now the starter but Cameron Brate still plays plenty. Out of 48 drop backs, Otton ran 23 routes, Brate ran 22.

 

Tennessee Titans

WR: Treylon Burks will return this week. Robert Woods should maintain a full snap share so Nick Westbrook-Ikhine probably loses some snaps to Burks.

RB: Derrick Henry is the man and he should run all over the Texans like he always does. 

TE: We really wish Austin Hooper wasn’t hanging around because he hurts the upside of the more exciting Chig Okonkwo. Hooper ran 18 routes, Chig ran 20. That’s out of 34.

 

Washington Commanders

WR: Jahan Dotson is back so he and McLaurin are the split end and flanker. Curtis Samuel played slot but only played 37 of 63 snaps. 

RB: Brian Robinson plays on run downs, Antonio Gibson plays on pass downs. But we knew that. It’s been that way since JD McKissic got hurt.

TE: Logan Thomas just isn’t quite playing his old snap share (which was close to 100%). He plays more like two thirds of the snaps these days which is just not appealing.

 

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