Box Score Breakdown: Week 6 Snaps, Routes, Personnel and Usage

This was "separate the contenders from the pretenders" week, with 11 of 13 favorites covering spreads ahead of MNF, and Indianapolis the only underdog (barely, +2.5) to win outright. The NFC North was especially impressive, with Chicago winning by 19, Green Bay by 21 and Detroit by 38 (while the undefeated Vikings got some well-earned rest). The division now has a combined point differential of +211, whereas no other division is better than +25 (AFC North) or worse than -71 (AFC South, what a surprise). 

This was also our second straight high-scoring week, with the 26 teams averaging 24.9 points. The average for Week 5 was 24.4 points, up from around 22 ppg over the first four weeks of the season. Defensive and special teams TDs have contributed to that, but passing stats (and rushing efficiency) also have been better the past two weeks. Now just imagine what the numbers might look like if the Browns and Titans were willing to bench Deshaun Watson and Will Levis!

Any RB/WR/TE with a target, carry or snap share of at least 15 percent is listed below. Any personnel grouping used on at least 10 percent of snaps is listed, in addition to rates for 11 and 12 personnel (by far the two most popular sets league-wide).

The final five columns of each stat table (written in italics) show numbers for the entire season, with snap/route/target/air-yard shares adjusted for key players to only include games they participated in. The first six columns show stats from Week 6 only.

49ers (36) at Seahawks (24) 

49ers Personnel: 11 - 38% / 12 - 7% / 21 - 46%

61 Plays — 30 DBs — 6.8 aDOT — 18-of-28 for 255 yards — 3 TDs, 0 INT, 0 sacks, 2 scrambles

• RB Jordan Mason injured his shoulder late in the second quarter. He returned for one snap in the third quarter before exiting the game for good.
  • RB Patrick Taylor took 45% of snaps after halftime, compared to only 38% for Isaac Guerendo. Taylor got five carries and one target in the second half, with Guerendo seeing six carries and no targets.
    • Guerendo's final carry was a 76-yarder to ice the game. He probably would've scored a TD if he hadn't slowed down at the end to keep the clock running (which wasn't necessarily the right strategy in that position, up five and with the other team still having its timeouts.
  • MRIs brought good news for the 49ers on Friday, with Mason reportedly considered day-to-day due to an AC joint sprain. Christian McCaffrey, meanwhile, won't return to practice this week, which means he's out for at least one more game. Week 8 against Dallas is the earliest possible return date, and even that seems optimistic.
• TE George Kittle scored two TDs. He continues to be the main pass-catching beneficiary of McCaffrey's absence. Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk both have enjoyed big games in recent weeks, but their usage stats are right in line with last year's (and in Aiyuk's case there's been an even-bigger-than-expected efficiency drop, from 12.8 YPT in 2023 to 8.6 YPT this year.
• WR Jauan Jennings has seven catches for 128 yards on 15 targets in three games since Samuel and Kittle missed Week 3 with injuries.
  • Jennings averaged 2.5 targets per game last season and 2.5 in 2022. His usage is much better now, but still not good enough to warrant a spot in fantasy lineups unless Aiyuk or Samuel is out with an injury.

Seahawks Personnel: 11 - 88% / 12 - 11%

73 Plays — 53 DBs — 9.2 aDOT — 30-of-52 for 312 yards — 1 TD, 2 INTs, 1 sack, 0 scrambles

• TE Noah Fant has back-to-back games with at least 69% snap share and 71% route share, including season-high 77% route share in Thursday's loss. He lost some snaps and routes in Weeks 3-4 (relative to Weeks 1-2) but has since rebounded to his early season role, with third-string TE Pharaoh Brown all but falling out of the rotation.
  • His receiving production hasn't really correlated with the playing time, but Fant did have a season-high 63 yards Thursday night. His snap share has risen for both 11 and 12 personnel the past couple weeks, although it's really only the 11 stuff that matters given Seattle's heavy three-wide usage.
• RB Kenneth Walker had six receptions and a one-yard TD run in the second half, finishing with 20.9 PPR points despite doing little before halftime. It was the type of game where he would've turned in a dud last year, mostly giving way to Zach Charbonnet in negative game script. New coordinator Ryan Grubbs is among the most pass-heavy playcallers in the league, but his desire to keep Walker on the field when trailing (plus the boost on overall play volume compared to Shane Waldron in 2021-23) makes KWIII more valuable than ever before.
• QB Geno Smith has attempted 40-plus passes in four of six games, including 50-plus twice. He's thrown just six TDs against six INTs, but that's not a product of poor efficiency so much as the Seahawks scoring 60 percent of their offensive TDs on the ground (a rate that's way, way above league average and almost certainly will drop as the year progresses). Smith is a runaway favorite to lead the league in pass attempts and also has a good shot at the yardage crown if he stays healthy.
• WR DK Metcalf's 181 air yards were 37 more than any other player had Week 6. His 684 for the season are second most to only Rashid Shaheed, and Metcalf's 40.8% team share of air yards is 10th largest.
• WR Jake Bobo is one to watch in deep dynasty leagues. He still doesn't sub in often but tends to be targeted when he does. He made the team as an undrafted rookie last year and caught 19 of 25 targets for 196 yards and two TDs on 143 routes, with solid per-route production for a guy who typically was sharing the field with Metcalf, JSN and/or Lockett (18% TPRR, 1.37 YPRR) when he played. This season Bobo has been targeted at a higher rate (24% TPRR, 1.61 YPRR) but is averaging only 8.3 yards per catch.

Stock ⬆️:   RB Isaac Guerendo  /   TE Noah Fant

Stock ⬇️:   WR Jauan Jennings

  49ers Injuries 🚑: RB Jordan Mason (shoulder) + K Matthew Wright (shoulder) + S Malik Mustapha (ankle)

  Seahawks Injuries 🚑: CB Tre Brown (ankle) + CB Artie Burns (foot) 

Jaguars (16) at Bears (35) 

Jaguars Personnel: 11 - 75% / 12 - 22%

60 Plays — 43 DBs — 8.8 aDOT — 24-of-36 for 240 yards — 2 TDs, 1 INT, 4 sacks, 3 scrambles

• RB Travis Etienne suffered a hamstring injury and missed the second half. Coach Doug Pederson said Monday that Etienne is week-to-week.
  • Etienne's role was concerning even before the injury. He got the start and the first carry, but Tank Bigsby took the next three carries on the opening drive, and D'Ernest Johnson then took the fifth carry (on a first down from Chicago's 13-yard line. 
  • After playing 50% of snaps in the first quarter, Etienne took just one of seven snaps in the second quarter. He got the ball on Jacksonville's first snap of the third quarter and appeared to cough the ball up, but it was reversed on replay. Etienne missed the rest of the game, ultimately logging just two snaps after the opening quarter.
• RB Tank Bigsby had a disappointing role given Etienne's lack of playing time and early exit. Bigsby took just 20% of snaps in the second half, with D'Ernest Johnson handling 77%. That was obviously game-script related but goes to show that the Jaguars still don't like Bigsby much for passing situations.
  • Bigsby actually had a larger snap share pre-halftime (36%), when he took five carries for 18 yards. After the break, he got just two carries for six yards, while Johnson gained 41 yards from five carries and a target.
  • Bigsby will be the lead runner in Etienne's absence, but he might disappoint relative to the recent hype, especially if he's ceding nearly all the snaps in passing situations while playing for a bad team.
• TE Evan Engram and WR Gabe Davis had nearly all the receiving production and led the team in targets — a reversal from what we saw Weeks 3-5 with Brian Thomas and Christian Kirk taking the clear lead (granted, in games Engram missed).
  • Thomas got slightly more playing time and routes than Davis, after it was mostly the other way around Weeks 1-5. In other words, the production shift probably doesn't matter. Also, Davis had two catchable end-zone targets that he didn't come down with, in addition to the two he caught. One of those was right before his second TD, but the other cost Jacksonville four points.
  • Engram led the team in targets and yards while catching every target, but a lost fumble on the opening drive of the second half spoiled his day from a non-fantasy standpoint. He essentially handled his full workload after missing four weeks with a hamstring injury, running just three fewer routes than Thomas and one fewer than Davis.
  • Kirk had a quiet day, but his snap and route shares rebounded to his ceiling range after dipping below 70% the week before in positive game script (a rarity for this Jags outfit).

Bears Personnel: 11 - 64% / 12 - 16% / 13 - 10%

61 Plays — 34 DBs — 4.5 aDOT — 23-of-29 for 226 yards — 4 TDs, 1 INT, 3 sacks, 2 scrambles

• RB D'Andre Swift reached 20 PPR points for a third straight game. It was also his third in a row with at least 21 touches and 67% snap share, which is high-end RB1 usage.
  • Playing the Rams, Panthers and Jaguars has obviously helped a ton, enabling both efficiency and positive game scripts, but the workload dominance is nonetheless encouraging and suggests Swift is no worse than a low-end RB1 moving forward.
  • Swift even scored a one-yard TD on Sunday, while Roschon Johnson didn't get any goal-line carries and had just two carries before deep garbage time at the end of the game (Swift had a 17-2 edge in carries before Johnson took the final three).
  • Over the past three weeks, since Khalil Herbert's demotion, Swift has taken 71% of snaps inside the 5-yard line, with five carries to Johnson's three. Johnson, however, scored TDs on each of those three totes, whereas Swift is 2-for-5. (FWIW, Johnson's all came from the 1-yard line, where Swift is 2-for-2).
• WR Keenan Allen's presence hasn't cost Rome Odunze routes/snaps, but the rookie has only 14% target share and 19% air yard share in the games Allen has played.
• Receiving shares the past three weeks (W4-6) with everyone healthy and Gerald Everett not taking many snaps from Cole Kmet anymore:
  • Moore: 25% TS / 44% AYS
  • Allen: 18% TS / 20% AYS
  • Swift: 17% TS / -4% AYS
  • Kmet: 16% TS / 17% AYS
  • Odunze: 15% TS / 22% AYS
  • Everyone else combined: 9% TS / 1% AYS

Stock ⬆️:   TE Cole Kmet

Stock ⬇️:   RB Travis Etienne

  Jaguars Injuries 🚑: RB Travis Etienne (hamstring) + S Darnell Savage (concussion)    

  Bears Injuries 🚑: CB Kyler Gordon (hamstring) 

Texans (41) at Patriots (21) 

Texans Personnel: 11 - 44% / 12 - 48%

62 Plays — 35 DBs — 8.4 aDOT — 20-of-32 for 192 yards — 3 TDs, 1 INT, 2 sacks, 1 scramble

• The Texans used 11 personnel on just 44% of snaps in the first game since WR Nico Collins (hamstring) was placed on IR. They were three-wide on 61% of snaps in the first half, and on 40% in the second half before C.J. Stroud and other starters were pulled early.
  • Xavier Hutchinson thus fell slightly below 50% snap/route share, with TE Cade Stover and WR John Metchie also picking up a lot of the playing time that had gone to Collins previously.
• RB Joe Mixon returned from an ankle injury to play 62% of snaps in the first half, getting 10 of the 13 RB carries and three of the four targets.
  • Mixon's workload was scaled way back after the Texans took a big lead. He played only 35% of snaps in the third quarter and 9% in the fourth, with Dameon Pierce getting 43% in the second half and Dare Ogunbowale taking 25%.
    • Pierce got just three touches in the first half during his first appearance since Week 1, but he got six touches after halftime, including a 54-yard TD on a toss play to ice the game after New England had pulled within 13 points with nine minutes remaining.
    • Cam Akers didn't play until the final drive, a.k.a. garbage time.
• WR Tank Dell and TE Dalton Schultz got big-time usage for the first time all year, both topping their previous season highs for targets by two. Only Dell managed strong production, however.

Patriots Personnel: 11 - 60% / 12 - 38%

63 Plays — 42 DBs — 6.5 aDOT — 20-of-33 for 243 yards — 3 TDs, 2 INT, 4 sacks, 5 scrambles

• QB Drake Maye had an eventful first start, featuring three TDs, two INTs, a lost fumble and four sacks. He appeared to get hurt on a strip-sack on the second play of the second half, but he was back out on the field a few minutes later to start the next drive.
  • Maye played well for a first start, especially given how his poor O-line unsurprisingly struggled against a strong Houston pass rush. For fantasy, his high scramble rate (five on 42 dropbacks, and for 38 yards) was promising. He won't have many three-TD games, at least not his year, but the scrambling could lead to some decent fantasy scores even if New England struggles to put up points.
  • Maye's first interception was a bad overthrow on a crossing route to DeMario Douglas. It might've been catchable for a leaping DK Metcalf but was well over the 5-foot-8 Douglas' head. The second pick was a deflected screen pass, i.e., mostly bad luck, although a lot of veteran QBs would've avoided it with a pump fake or just throwing the ball away.
• With Rhamondre Stevenson (foot) inactive, RB Antonio Gibson got 62% of snaps before the fourth quarter, taking 10 of the 12 RB carries and two of the three targets.
  • Gibson didn't have much luck, netting just 36 yards on those 12 opportunities, and the Pats eventually turned to undrafted rookie Terrell Jennings once the game was out of hand.
    • Jennings had just one carry before the final drive. Up to that point, Gibson had 13 of the 17 RB carries and four of the six targets.
• WR DeMario Douglas still only played in 11 personnel but led the team in targets and yards on 68% route share.
• WR snap shares by personnel grouping
  • 12 personnel: Boutte: 96% / Bourne: 96% / Douglas: 4% / Polk: 4%
  • 11 personnel: Polk: 100% / Douglas: 98% / Boutte: 78% / Bourne: 24%
    • Boutte ran the most routes and scored a 40-yard TD but was targeted on just three of 28 routes overall and has a 12% target rate for the season, while Douglas was targeted on nine of 25 routes to boost his target rate to 23%. It's still a good sign for Boutte that he's playing ahead of Bourne in 11 personnel and ahead of Polk in 12 personnel, but the low target rate suggests mainstream fantasy value is still highly unlikely. There's also a decent chance Polk (rookie) or Bourne (two games back from ACL tear) eventually take over a bunch of Boutte's snaps, although playing well obviously reduces those odds.
• Coach Jerod Mayo isn't pleased with Polk, apparently...

Stock ⬆️:   WR DeMario Douglas  /   RB Joe Mixon + WR Tank Dell

Stock ⬇️:   WR Ja'Lynn Polk  /   RB Cam Akers

  Texans Injuries 🚑: LT Laremy Tunsil (ankle) + LB Azeez Al-Shaair (knee)

  Patriots Injuries 🚑: LT Vederian Lowe (ankle) + S Marte Mapu (neck) 

Colts (20) at Titans (17) 

Colts Personnel: 11 - 83% / 12 - 15%

66 Plays — 39 DBs — 8.5 aDOT — 22-of-38 for 189 yards — 2 TDs, 1 INT, 0 sacks, 1 scramble

• RB Trey Sermon made another start and took 63% of snaps in the first half and 56% in the second half, but Tyler Goodson had more of a role (and more success) compared to the previous week, getting eight of the 26 RB carries and all five targets (13 of 31 opportunities, 42%). The week before, Goodson got 33% of the opps.
  • Sermon's final 10 carries went for three yards combined. That's not entirely his fault, But there are almost certainly better RBs on practice squads around the league.
• WR Michael Pittman has 21% TS and 22% AYS in four games since WR Josh Downs returned from his summer ankle injury. Downs has eight more targets than Pittman (35-27) during the four-week stretch, and Alec Pierce has more air yards (206 to Pittman's 250).
• Pierce saw 102 more air yards but went 0-for-4, with three of his targets 20-plus yards downfield.

Titans Personnel: 11 - 71% / 12 - 16%

55 Plays — 30 DBs — 9.1 aDOT — 16-of-27 for 95 yards — 1 TD, 1 INT, 0 sacks, 3 scrambles

• RB Tyjae Spears suffered a hamstring injury during the second quarter and missed the rest of the game. He's considered week-to-week.
  • RB Tony Pollard took 90% of snaps after halftime, getting 12 of 13 RB opportunities.
  • RB Julius Chestnut got just three snaps and one carry.
• WR DeAndre Hopkins had season highs for snap share (71%) and route share (67%), approaching a full-time role for the first time all season after a Week 5 bye. He's easily been the team's most productive receiver on a per-route and per-target basis, but real fantasy value might require a trade. 
  • I think he's worth trading for in fantasy given the possibility, with the Titans at 1-4 and looking like one of the worst teams in the league. Hopkins is in the second season of a reasonable two-year contract, with an $8.3 million base salary. Given that it would be prorated and his new team can use an extension (real or dummy) to lower the number further, Hopkins makes more sense than Davante Adams for a lot of teams. Adams is only seven months younger, FWIW, and he's now the one with more health concern than Hopkins.
• WR Calvin Ridley had 144 air yards, second most of any player Week 6, yet finished without a catch (0-for-8). He dropped one of those targets after a hard hit, and two others might have been catchable with spectacular diving grabs, but five were too far off target for him to have any chance. He's not happy.
• If we were to remove Green Bay's Malik Willis games, the Titans would have a league-low -9.0% pass rate over expectation (PROE). They barely ran the ball in extreme negative game script Week 3 (against Willis, coincidentally) but have otherwise been at -8.2% PROE or lower in each game, including the second-lowest mark in the league this week (-15.2%) and the No. 1 lowest in their previous game (-21.4% in the Week 4 win over Miami).
  • They may not be ready to bench Will Levis, but the Titans seem at least somewhat aware of his shortcoming and are trying to ride Tony Pollard and a solid defense to competency. Unfortunately, Levis and the passing game have been so bad as to make that impossible even with the rushing attack and defense mostly holding up their ends of the bargain.

Stock ⬆️:   WR DeAndre Hopkins

Stock ⬇️:   QB Will Levis  /   RB Trey Sermon

  Colts Injuries 🚑: C Ryan Kelly (calf)   

  Titans Injuries 🚑: RB Tyjae Spears (hamstring)

Buccaneers (51) at Saints (27) 

Buccaneers Personnel: 11 - 86% / 12 - 13%

72 Plays — 40 DBs — 5.5 aDOT — 24-of-36 for 325 yards — 4 TDs, 3 INTs, 1 sack, 3 scrambles

• RB Bucky Irving made his first career start and took 74% of snaps in the first half, getting seven of the 10 RB opportunities and taking them for 40 yards.
  • RB Sean Tucker played only 11 snaps before halftime, but he made the most of his three touches, with a 36-yard receiving TD, a 15-yard reception and an 11-yard carry. He then got five snaps and four touches in the third quarter (gaining 23 more yards), followed by 11 snaps (52%) and 10 carries (for 107 yards and a TD) in the fourth quarter.
    • Tucker definitely benefited from garbage time, getting carries on each of the Bucs' final six snaps and taking them for 64 yards and a TD, but he was also a factor before that and ended up as the highest-scoring RB of Week 6 (34.2 PPR points).
    • Irving also had a nice fantasy day, boosted by a 31-yard run and a one-yard TD in the fourth quarter. Irving had 14 of the 22 RB carries and two of the five targets before the final drive, equating to a 59/41 split with Tucker in terms of touches before deep garbage time.
• WR Mike Evans posted yet another disappointing line against the Saints, while Chris Godwin was Week 6's high scorer for fantasy with 11-125-2 on 13 targets. Godwin had just 46 air yards, but that doesn't matter when you take a screen pass for a 55-yard TD, I guess.
  • Evans played 63% of snaps in the first half and 44% in the second half. He may be dealing with some kind of injury.
• WR Jalen McMillan returned from a hamstring injury but was merely the No. 4 receiver behind Sterling Shepard, who got four targets and four carries while handling 75% snap share and 86% route share.
  • Ryan Miller also got a bunch of playing time, including 39% snap share and 31% route share before the fourth quarter. Using him and Shepard more (and Evans/McMillan less) may have been gameplan-specific, but it's definitely something worth watching Week 7 against Baltimore (on MNF).

Saints Personnel: 11 - 58% / 12 - 15% / 21 - 17%

66 Plays — 48 DBs — 7.5 aDOT — 22-of-40 for 243 yards — 1 TD, 2 INTs, 5 sacks, 3 scrambles

• QB Spencer Rattler was decent in his first start, especially for a Day 3 pick who lost his No. 1 receiver on the third snap of the game. He looked especially comfortable moving outside the pocket, and he scrambled three times for 27 yards.
  • His first interception was both a bad throw and a bad decision, and it sparked a dominant fourth quarter from Tampa Bay when the Saints were down by only four at the time. Rattler's second INT was a play where it looked like the defensive back was running the route; it was also an ugly decision, but at a point where it didn't really matter (down 17 with less than five minutes remaining).
• WR Chris Olave was concussed on a helmet-to-helmet hit early in the game. His fumble was returned for a TD and he missed the rest of the game.
  • This was Olave's fourth documented concussion. He's suffered one in each of his three NFL seasons, plus one back in 2022 at OSU. With the Saints playing the Broncos on Thursday, there's essentially zero chance of Olave avoiding a missed game. The realistic target dates are Oct. 27 (at LAC) or Nov. 3 (at CAR).
• WR Bub Means played every snap in two-wide formations after the first quarter, plus 71% of snaps in 11 personnel. He finished with 5-45-1 on a team-high eight targets while running the third most routes (71%).
  • Cedrick Wilson also took on more playing time sans Olave, while Mason Tipton's role 
• WR Rashid Shaheed had the fourth most air yards (126) of any player this week but caught just one of seven targets (for 11 yards), scoring most of his fantasy points on a punt return TD instead.
  • Shaheed leads the league with 706 air yards this season, and his 48.3% team share is second to only Terry McLaurin's 52%.
• RB Alvin Kamara took 84% of snaps before the fourth quarter, with 18 of the 21 RB opportunities.
  • RB Jordan Mims got nine of his 15 snaps and each of his four targets in the fourth quarter, but he did get slightly more playing time than Jamaal Williams even before the final frame, with Williams playing just three snaps (to Mims' six) prior to Q4.
    • RB Kendre Miller was inactive after being activated from IR (hamstring injury). That's not a great sign, but at least we saw evidence that the Saints aren't happy with Williams in the No. 2 RB role (Kamara being a weekly leader in RB snap share is another sign). There's room for Mims and/or Miller to take on more work as the season progresses.
• Taysom Hill's absence plus negative game script allowed Juwan Johnson to set season highs for snap and route share, with 69% of snaps before the fourth quarter and a team-high 94% in the fourth. 
  • Johnson made the most of his three targets, but the target rate (three on 38 routes) was still low and dropped his season TPRR to 13%

Stock ⬆️:   RB Sean Taylor + WR Sterling Shepard /   WR Bub Means 

Stock ⬇️:   WR Jalen McMillan  /   WR Chris Olave + RB Jamaal Williams

  Saints Injuries 🚑: WR Chris Olave (head) + S Tyrann Mathieu (arm) + CB Alontae Taylor (arm)

Browns (16) at Eagles (20) 

Browns Personnel: 11 - 85% / 12 - 11%

53 Plays — 30 DBs — 5.5 aDOT — 16-of-23 for 168 yards — 0 TD, 0 INT, 5 sacks, 2 scrambles

• RB Jerome Ford suffered a hamstring injury and played just four snaps, making him droppable in shallow leagues given the recent reports that Nick Chubb will make his 2024 debut Week 7 against the Bengals.
  • After Ford's early exit, Pierre Strong got 58% of snaps, eight carries and three targets (78 total yards), with D'Onta Foreman taking 37% snap share, 10 carries and two targets (47 total yards). 
    • Strong being preferred on passing downs means he's more likely than Foreman to have a considerable role once Chubb returns.
• WR Elijah Moore injured his ribs, allowing Cedric Tillman to pick up a few extra snaps. Tillman has been targeted on a miserly 7% of routes this year.
• TE David Njoku made it through a game healthy for the first time this year, handling 74% snap share, 79% route share and a team-high seven targets (5-31-0 receiving). He could still have a decent season, especially if the Browns ever bench Deshaun Watson...

Eagles Personnel: 11 - 40% / 12 - 53%

62 Plays — 28 DBs — 10.0 aDOT — 16-of-25 for 264 yards — 2 TDs, 0 INT, 1 sack, 2 scrambles

• WRs A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith returned from injuries and had productive afternoons, each scoring a TD, but the Eagles offense lost two other quality starters, with TE Dallas Goedert and LT Jordan Mailata both unable to finish the contest due to hamstring injuries.
  • In the two games both Brown and Smith have played, AJB has 19 targets and 255 air yards to Smith's 12 targets and 94 air yards. No other Eagle has more than six targets in those games, although Goedert would if he hadn't been injured so early this past Sunday (he had five targets Week 1 when everyone was healthy).
• TE Grant Calcaterra took over Goedert's role, handling 92% of snaps, 88% route share and catching each of his four targets for 67 yards.
  • Calcaterra doesn't have much of a track record volume-wise, but he's caught 17 of his 22 career targets for 243 yards. He could conceivably draw 4-5 targets per game as the fourth option in an offense with three stars (Barkley/AJB/Smith) but nothing else behind them when Goedert is out.
  • Is it just me or does Goedert always get hurt as soon as there's any real excitement about him for fantasy?

Stock ⬆️:   TE Grant Calcaterra

Stock ⬇️:   RB Jerome Ford

  Browns Injuries 🚑: RB Jerome Ford (hamstring) + WR Elijah Moore (ribs) C Nick Harris (leg) + CB Martin Emerson (ribs)    

  Eagles Injuries 🚑: TE Dallas Goedert (hamstring) + LT Jordan Mailata (hamstring) + CB Darius Slay (knee)

Cardinals (13) at Packers (34) 

Cardinals Personnel: 11 - 64% / 12 - 27%

55 Plays — 36 DBs — 5.5 aDOT — 22-of-32 for 214 yards — 1 TD, 0 INT, 0 sacks, 4 scrambles

• RB James Conner played just two snaps after halftime. He missed the first drive of the third quarter while getting his ankle taped, and then returned for the second drive but lost a fumble on the second play. After that, he didn't play at all.
  • RB Trey Benson got four of his five carries on that opening drive of the second half, including a 20-yard gain on a play where the line opened up a big enough hole to drive two Mack trucks through.
  • Benson got just one snap in the fourth quarter with the Cardinals down 2-3 scores. Emari Demercado took 50% of snaps in the third quarter and 91% in the fourth.
    • Demercado had just one carry before the final drive (but five targets). He'll have a role if Conner misses time, but Benson will probably be the lead runner in that scenario.
• WR Marvin Harrison was concussed in the first half. Xavier Weaver filled in for him but saw just one target on 23 routes. The other WR roles stayed the same.
• TE Trey McBride got a big stat line out of his dominant receiving shares. He leads all TEs in target share, air-yard share and TPRR in active games, with Brock Bowers the only guy in the same range for those stats (Travis Kelce may creep up on them soon enough).

Packers Personnel: 11 - 60% / 12 - 21% / 21 - 19%

70 Plays — 35 DBs — 6.6 aDOT — 22-of-32 for 258 yards — 4 TDs, 1 INT, 0 sacks, 3 scrambles

• WR Romeo Doubs returned to his near-every-down role and scored a pair of TDs, although he was targeted just four times on a day when nine Packers saw multiple targets and only Jayden Reed had more than four.
• WR Dontayvion Wicks suffered a shoulder injury in the first quarter and missed the rest of the game.
  • WR Christian Watson returned after missing one game with an ankle injury. He played 62% of snaps and had 81% route share after the first quarter.
  • Wicks, Doubs and Reed each played 10 of the first 16 snaps, with Watson taking seven and Bo Melton three. From the time Wicks left until the final drive (deep garbage time), Doubs played 87% of snaps, Watson - 77%, Reed - 62%, Melton - 30%, Heath - 19%.
• RB Josh Jacobs took 73% of snaps before the final drive, with 18 of the 21 RB carries and three of the five targets.
  • Third-string RB Chris Brook got all his snaps and carries in the final 10 minutes. Before that, Emanuel Wilson was the only back to spell Jacobs, taking 25% of snaps and three opportunities before the final quarter.
• TE Tucker Kraft had only 3.5 PPR points but took 94% of snaps and 80% route share before the fourth quarter.

Stock ⬆️:   WR Romeo Doubs

Stock ⬇️:   RB James Conner

  Cardinals Injuries 🚑: WR Marvin Harrison (concussion) + LG Evan Brown (ankle) + LB Kyzir White (knee) + CB Sean Murphy-Bunting (neck) + DL Bilal Nichols (stinger) 

  Packers Injuries 🚑: WRs Dontayvion Wicks (shoulder) & Jayden Reed (ankle)

Commanders (23) at Ravens (30) 

Commanders Personnel: 11 - 57% / 12 - 29% / 21 - 13%

56 Plays — 42 DBs — 8.2 aDOT — 24-of-35 for 269 yards — 2 TDs, 0 INT, 3 sacks, 4 scrambles

• RB Austin Ekeler got 73% of snaps and 14 of 16 RB opportunities with Brian Robinson (knee) inactive for the first time this season.
  • Jeremy McNichols ran just three fewer routes than Ekeler but wasn't targeted even once (he barely has been this season) and got only two carries.
  • The Commanders' gameplan was more pass-heavy than usual. That was probably related to Robinson's absence but may have been more about the matchup with a Baltimore defense that's been elite against the run and lousy against the pass
• WR Noah Brown returned to his usual role in terms of snaps/routes (66% apiece) after missing Week 5 with a groin injury. He led the team in targets (eight) and air yards (101) but still lost a few snaps to Olamide Zaccheaus and Dyami Brown.
  • Brown has been targeted on 25% of his routes this year, more than twice the rate of Luke McCaffrey, who is now sharing the slot work with Olamide Zaccheaus (who has been targeted on a team-high 31% of routes. There's a pretty clear delineation in terms of which players get targeted when on the field (McLaurin, Ertz, Brown, Zaccheaus, Ekeler) vs. the ones that play a decent amount but don't see much of the ball (McCaffrey, Brown, John Bates). You'll notice that everyone above has a target rate of 20% and up or 13% and lower. 
  • McLaurin scored his third and fourth TDs of the year. His catches and yardage per game are nearly identical to last year's marks, but it looks like he'll top five TDs for the first time since his 2019 rookie season. 
    • His 67.4 percent catch rate is a career high, boosted by screen passes, and he's recorded four straight games with at least 14 PPR points for the first time since 2020. A rising tide lifts all ships, even when Noah Brown and Olamide Zaccheaus have target rates far beyond what anyone expected.

Ravens Personnel: 11 - 14% / 12 - 31% / 21 - 22%  22 - 23%

65 Plays — 32 DBs — 10.3 aDOT — 20-of-26 for 323 yards — 1 TD, 1 INT, 2 sacks, 4 scrambles

• TE Mark Andrews dropped his first target into a defenders hands for an INT, but after that there were positive signs, with his route share rebounding to 57% (after 45% and 37% the previous two weeks) and the tight end catching each of his final three targets (for 66 yards and a TD).
  • Granted, 51% snap share and 57% route share are still low numbers for a TE with any fantasy expectations. And Isaiah Likely saw the same number of targets while running one more route than Andrews. So, yes, this was progress, but it's still impossible to feel okay about Andrews relative to pre-season expectations.
• RB Derrick Henry leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage, carries, rushing yards and touchdowns, pacing for 1,994 rushing yards and 25.5 total TDs.
• The Commanders held WR Zay Flowers without a catch in the second half... after he hit them for 9-132-0 on nine targets in the first half.

Stock ⬆️:   TE Mark Andrews (slightly)  /   WR Noah Brown

Stock ⬇️:   RB Jeremy McNichols

  Commanders Injuries 🚑: DE Dorance Armstrong (rib) + DL Jonathan Allen (pectoral - OFS)   

Chargers (23) at Broncos (16) 

Chargers Personnel: 11 - 48% / 12 - 11% / 21 - 20% / 22 - 17%

75 Plays — 38 DBs — 8.7 aDOT — 21-of-34 for 237 yards — 1 TD, 0 INT, 3 sacks, 1 scramble

• RB Gus Edwards (ankle) was placed on IR on Saturday, ruling him out through at least Week 9 and opening the door for J.K. Dobbins to take on a larger workload and rookie sixth-round pick Kimani Vidal to make his regular-season debut.
  • Dobbins took each of the team's nine carries in the fourth quarter, i.e., Vidal's involvement wasn't a product of game script. The rookie got his first career touch midway through the first quarter, scoring a 38-yard TD on a screen pass, before adding four touches for 11 yards through the rest of the first half.
  • Vidal got just one touch after halftime, however, with Dobbins handling 77% of snaps and 14 of the 15 RB opportunities.
  • Dobbins has played 72% and 73% of snaps the past two games.
• TE Hayden Hurst injured his groin and didn't play after the first quarter. Will Dissly played 70% of snaps after Hurst's exit and finished with season highs for route share (54) and targets (five) en route to a 4-26-0 receiving line.
• WR Ladd McConkey was evaluated for a concussion in the first quarter but returned. He also looked a bit banged up after another play but ended up leading the team in both routes (78%) and targets (eight).
  • WR Quentin Johnston caught two passes for 14 yards within the Chargers' first three snaps but then missed the rest of the first quarter with an ankle injury. He returned before halftime, taking 32% of snaps in the second quarter, 72% in the third quarter and 50% in the fourth quarter.
  • WR Simi Fehoko picked up most of Johnston's snaps, while Joshua Palmer's role didn't really change. Palmer took a team-high 92% of snaps in 11 personnel, but he got only 17% of the two-wide snaps (compared to 74% for McConkey, 52% for Johnston and 39% for Fehoko).
    • It's an excellent sign for McConkey to be getting a majority of two-wide snaps for a third straight game, not to mention the eight targets and 96 air yards.
• The Chargers have really taken a beating at cornerback. Top corner Asante Samuel (shoulder) was placed on IR on Saturday, while Kristian Fulton (knee) and Deane Leonard (hamstring) managed to play both then both left early with hamstring injuries (or a re-injury, presumably, in Leonard's case).

Broncos Personnel: 11 - 83% / 12 - 11%

53 Plays — 41 DBs — 10.7 aDOT — 19-of-33 for 216 yards — 2 TDs, 1 INT, 2 sacks, 6 scrambles

• The Broncos scored all 16 points in the fourth quarter after falling behind 23-0.
• RB Javonte Williams took 77% of snaps before the fourth quarter and 57% in the fourth. His overall 68% snap share was a season high, up from 60% and 59% in the two previous games. But he got only six carries in extreme negative game script, and caught just three of six targets (with one drop).
  • RB Audric Estime played only two snaps in his return from IR, but both plays were carries (one for 11 yards, the other for two yards) and he's part of a backfield where the starter hasn't put forth much of an argument to continue starting.
• With WR Josh Reynolds (finger) placed on IR before the game, Troy Franklin got season highs for snap share (66%) and route share (71%) while scoring the first TD of his career.
  • Sean Payton favorite Lil'Jordan Humphrey was demoted to reserve status, while seventh-round rookie Devaughn Vele made his first appearance since Week 1 and ran the second most routes on the team (74%) en route to 4-78-0 on six targets.
    • Applying logic to anything Payton does beyond Xs and Os is a fool's task. Vele caught eight passes for 39 yards in his pro debut, then missed Week 2 with a rib injury, then was a healthy scratch for three games. Now he's gone from healthy scratch to jumping over Humphrey and Mims on the depth chart. There's no guarantee things look the same next week, but Franklin and Vele (both rookies) are the ones trending up after Sunday.
• TE Lucas Krull had season highs for snap share (64%) and route share (74%), although more due to negative game script than anything else, most likely. He might be even worse than Greg Dulcich.

Stock ⬆️:   RBs J.K. Dobbins & Kimani Vidal

Stock ⬇️:   WR Joshua Palmer  /   WRs Troy Franklin and Devaughn Vele

  Chargers Injuries 🚑: WR Quentin Johnston (ankle) + TE Hayden Hurst (groin) + CBs Deane Leonard (hamstring) & Kristian Fulton (hamstring)

  Broncos Injuries 🚑: CB Patrick Surtain (concussion) 

Steelers (32) at Raiders (13) 

Steelers Personnel: 11 - 32% / 12 - 31% / 13 - 27%

62 Plays — 34 DBs — 9.3 aDOT — 14-of-24 for 145 yards — 0 TD, 0 INT, 3 sacks, 7 scrambles

• RB Najee Harris had easily his best fantasy game of the season thanks to a spectacular 36-yard TD run, but his workload shares actually dipped with Jaylen Warren returning from a hamstring injury.
  • The four carries from Jonathan Ward and Aaron Shampklin all came in the final five minutes of the game, however. Before that, Harris got 54% of the snaps and 16 of the 25 RB opportunities (64%), with Warren at 42% snap share and nine opps.
    • Shampklin played one snap before the final two drives. Ward got none. 
• WR George Pickens rebounded to 64% snap share in 12 personnel, up from 5% the week before. He also played 96% of snaps in 11 personnel and 42% in 13 personnel (one-wide), and his overall snap share was 70% before the final two drives.
  • He still missed out on more snaps than a typical WR1, but it didn't really matter, as Pickens was on the field for a team-high 89% of the pass plays.
• QB Justin Fields has four straight weeks with multiple TDs, scoring four through the air and five on the ground in that stretch. His rushing yardage is way down compared to the past few years in Chicago, but the TDs make up for it.
  • QB Russell Wilson is now healthy but needs 2-3 consecutive ugly games from Fields in order to get a shot at starting again.

Raiders Personnel: 11 - 57% / 12 - 33%

60 Plays — 41 DBs — 4.5 aDOT — 27-of-40 for 227 yards — 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 sack, 0 scrambles

• RB Alexander Mattison handled a season-high 67% of snaps in the second game without Zamir White, who is out with a groin injury and may just be a backup once he returns (not that Mattison is good, but he's at least a decent pass catcher and blocker).
  • Mattison got 14 of the 19 RB carries and five of the 10 targets, with Ameer Abdullah taking four carries and five targets on 32% of snaps.
    • Mattison scored a short TD in the first quarter and then had a TD catch wiped out by an illegal man downfield penalty later in the game.
  • Rookie RB Dylan Laube made his NFL debut... and lost a fumble on his first and only snap. 
• TE Brock Bowers matched his season-high 80% route share from the previous week and again drew double-digit targets. He had 10 targets on an afternoon when no other Raider had more than five.
• WR Tre Tucker got 95% of snaps and 98% of routes with both Davante Adams (hamstring) and Jakobi Meyers (ankle) inactive, but Tucker drew targets on just two of his 40 routes, dropping his TPRR to 14% for the season.
  • Otherwise, the WR snaps were split between DJ Turner, Kristian Wilkerson and Alex Bachman, each of whom was reasonably efficient with the targets, but none of whom was targeted on more than
• QB Aidan O'Connell is basically the statue version of Gardner Minshew. Not that it really matters much, but Minshew gives the team a slightly better chance to win. 
  • Antonio Pierce is a truly horrible coach. He's hyper-conservative with fourth-down decisions, places blame on players during media availability and generally just seems to be pushing buttons. He's bad even by the standards of the anti-strategic, pure-motivator coaching archetype... the type of guy who might work as an interim coach but will eventually lose his player's respect because he's always playing not to lose / to avoid media criticism. Maybe they like his energy for a while, but eventually they'll get sick of being put at a strategic disadvantage every week.

Stock ⬆️:   RB Alexander Mattison 

Stock ⬇️:   WR Tre Tucker + RB Dylan Laube

  Steelers Injuries 🚑: C Zach Frazier (ankle)    

  Raiders Injuries 🚑: RG Dylan Parham (foot)

Lions (47) at Cowboys (9) 

Lions Personnel: 11 - 45% / 12 - 35% / 6OL - 17%

66 Plays — 32 DBs — 9.8 aDOT — 19-of-27 for 334 yards — 3 TDs, 0 INT, 3 sacks, 2 scrambles

• RB David Montgomery scored a pair of first half TDs, then played six snaps in the third quarter and none in the fourth.
  • Jahmyr Gibbs did most of his damage in the third quarter, taking six touches for 60 yards on 12 snaps.
  • Craig Reynolds and Sione Vaki didn't play at all until the fourth quarter.
• WR Kalif Raymond drew six targets on just 13 routes, including a team-high five targets before the fourth quarter. The Lions truly got everyone involved, and they even took multiple shots at scoring an O-lineman touchdown in a nod to last year's controversial game in Dallas.
• TE Sam LaPorta scored a 52-yard TD on a trick play but wasn't targeted otherwise on 15 routes. His playing time was normal until garbage time; he got 74% of snaps through three quarters.
• WR Jameson Williams got 89% of snaps and 84% route share before the fourth quarter, leading the team in both stats. He had a bad drop over the middle but made up for it with a long TD catch.
• Detroit paid a hefty price for the blowout victory, losing NFL sack leader Aidan Hutchinson to what was almost certainly a season-ending injury. Pretty much everything else went Detroit's way.

Cowboys Personnel: 11 - 85% / 12 - 9%

65 Plays — 49 DBs — 7.9 aDOT — 25-of-44 for 224 yards — 0 TDs, 3 INTs, 4 sacks, 1 scramble

• RB Rico Dowdle dropped to 29% snap share, including just 33% in the first half.
  • Prior to the fourth quarter, Dowdle got 28% of snaps, three carries and four targets, with Ezekiel Elliott taking 36% snap share, five carries and no targets. (Hunter Luepke got 38% of snaps but no carries or targets).
  •  Cynics will say this was in response to reports of Zeke grumbling, a.k.a., the squeaky-wheel treatment. Dowdle isn't good, but he was productive the prior two weeks, taking 31 carries for 133 yards (4.3 YPC) and scoring three receiving TDs.
• WRs CeeDee Lamb and Jalen Tolbert both played 95% of snaps before the fourth quarter, with TE Jake Ferguson getting 81%, Jalen Brooks at 58% and Kavontae Turpin at 33%.
  • Brooks and Turpin drew four targets apiece in the fourth quarter, after combining for only five through the first three quarters.
• I don't mind Jerry Jones relative to other NFL owners, but it was nonetheless hilarious watching him be this grumpy on his birthday. The Lions made it more fun by over-celebrating at times and trying to feed their big boys a TD. Dallas now goes on bye.

Stock ⬇️:   RB Rico Dowdle

  Lions Injuries 🚑: DE Aidan Hutchinson (leg) CB Carlton Davis (head) + DT Kyle Peko (pec)   

Falcons (38) at Panthers (20) 

Falcons Personnel: 11 - 85% / 12 - 13%

68 Plays — 30 DBs — 6.9 aDOT — 19-of-30 for 225 yards — 1 TD, 0 INT, 0 sacks, 0 scrambles

• RB Bijan Robinson scored a pair of TDs in the first half and got 69% of snaps through three quarters (with 17 of the 26 RB opportunities), but Tyler Allgeier salted the game away with 65% of snaps and a 10-67-1 rushing line in the fourth quarter.
  • It's hard for Robinson to have the McCaffrey-type weeks. This would've been one of them if he had that kind of role... but he doesn't.
  • This was Atlanta's first game of the year that didn't come down to the final minutes. It was close-ish until the fourth quarter, but the Falcons pulled away late with Allgeier in the closer role
• The Falcons used 11 personnel on all but two plays before the fourth quarter, with Drake London, Darnell Mooney and Ray-Ray McCloud all above 90% snap and route shares.
  • London is up to 28% target share and 27% TPRR after consecutive games with double-digit targets.

Panthers Personnel: 11 - 87% / 12 - 6%

62 Plays — 40 DBs — 7.0 aDOT — 26-of-38 for 221 yards — 2 TDs, 2 INTs, 0 sacks, 2 scrambles

• RB Chuba Hubbard played a season-high 82% of snaps and even caught a pass on the final drive with Carolina down by 18 points. 
  • Hubbard has at least 17 touches and 15 PPR points in four straight games. He has at least 10 carries and four targets in five straight.
  • Coach Dave Canales said Monday that rookie RB Jonathan Brooks (ACL) will begin practicing this week, which suggests he'll return at some point Weeks 7-9.
• WR Jalen Coker played ahead of Jonathan Mingo for a second straight week, getting 74% route share and catching each of his three targets for 30 yards.
  • Coker went undrafted this spring, but his prospect profile isn't a bad one. He played at FCS Holy Cross but thoroughly dominated the team's receiving production, with 1,035 yards and 15 TDs last season for a team that had 2,222 passing yards and 25 passing TDs. (He had 50-914-11 in 2022 for a team with slightly more passing/receiving production).
    • Coker then ran a 4.57 40 at the 2024 Combine, which obviously isn't a great time but checks the box for a 6-foot-1, 208-pound receiver (especially one with a 42.5-inch vertical and 128-inch broad jump. Coker is worth stashing on a bench in most dynasty leagues.
• WR Xavier Legette ran the second most routes (82%) on the team and caught his second TD pass.
  • Adam Thielen (hamstring) is eligible to return Week 8, but it isn't clear if he'll be ready, nor is it guaranteed that a rebuilding team will bench Legette or Coker if they continue playing reasonably well.
• With TE Tommy Tremble (concussion) inactive, rookie tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders topped 70% snap share and 70% route share for a second straight week. He caught five of seven targets for 49 yards, after bringing in three of five for 13 yards the week before.

Stock ⬆️:   TE Ja'Tavion Sanders + WR Jalen Coker

Stock ⬇️:   RB Miles Sanders

  Falcons Injuries 🚑: S Justin Simmons (knee)  

  Panthers Injuries 🚑: ILB Claudin Cherelus (hamstring)

Bengals (17) at Giants (7) 

Bengals Personnel: 11 - 62% / 12 - 31%

52 Plays — 34 DBs — 5.8 aDOT — 19-of-28 for 208 yards — 0 TD, 0 INT, 4 sacks, 2 scrambles