NFL Snaps Report Week 1

deebo samuel

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Snap counts tell us who is playing but they don’t always paint a clear picture of who is producing for our fantasy football lineups. By digging deep into the snap counts from Week 1, we are able to pull some interesting takeaways that can help us win moving forward.

NFL snap data courtesy: FantasyData

Detroit’s 1-2 punch – After getting blown out through three quarters, the Lion came roaring back to post impressive fantasy numbers. QB Jared Goff played a whopping 92 snaps and attempted 57 passes. T.J. Hockenson snagged 8-of-10 targets and led all tight ends with 97 yards.

But perhaps the biggest takeaway was Detroit’s backfield duo of Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift. Williams got the start and led all skill-position players with a 28.1% target share. Williams actually touches the ball on 53% of his 32 snaps.

Swift actually played twice as many snaps (63) as Williams and also accumulated a 35% utilized rate. Moving forward, Swift looks like the back to have due mostly to that impressive 68.5% snap rate, but Williams is going to see extensive action as well and offers RB3 value on a week-to-week basis.

Mark Ingram touched the ball on 72% of his snaps – Coming into this season, Houston media kept telling us that Ingram, not incumbent starter David Johnson or free-agent signee Phillip Lindsay would open the season as Houston’s lead back. And that’s exactly how Week 1 played out.

Ingram was in on only 36 (46.2%) of the Texans’ snaps but carried the ball 26 times and was targeted once. Ingram was second only to Joe Mixon in rushing attempts on Sunday but averaged just 3.3 yards per carry. The rebuilding Texans won’t have too many games that warrant that kind of game script, and each of Houston’s other two backs also found the end zone.

Ingram is still a worthwhile waiver wire addition, but don’t count on that kind of extensive usage again.

Najee Harris’s usage – When looking at the stats, Najee Harris didn’t have an impressive first game running behind a porous Pittsburgh offensive line. Harris turned 16 carries into a pedestrian 45 yards (2.8 YPC) and caught 1-of-3 targets for just four yards.

However, Harris was the only Steelers’ running back to see the field, playing all 58 of Pittsburgh’s snaps. Harris was the only running back in the NFL to play every snap of his team’s game and should continue to be heavily featured as long as Anthony McFarland (IR) remains sidelined.

That kind of workload bodes very well for Harris’s potential this season. He should still be considered an RB1 with upside and the Steelers have the league’s seventh-easiest strength of schedule for running backs.

The other position players to play all of their team’s snaps: Terry McLaurin, Logan Thomas, Darnell Mooney, and Tyler Higbee.

 

Perhaps the most impressive outing was by Christian Kirk, who averaged the third-most fantasy points per snap but did so on just a 56.5% snap rate. All over wideouts listed exceeded 65%.

Bengals rookie Ja’Marr Chase silenced the doubters week one and played 11 more snaps than both Tee Higgins or Tyler Boyd and led all significant statistics.

Broncos WR Tim Patrick looks like the player who will slide into the spot vacated by Jerry Jeudy.

Atlanta Struggles – Fantasy fans are used to QB Matt Ryan struggling without Julio Jones but the Falcons looked atrocious against a Philadelphia defense that surrendered the 13th-most fantasy points to quarterback in 2020.

Ryan completed 21-of-35 passes for a lowly 164 scoreless yards. Under duress the entire game, Ryan averaged just 4.68 yards per attempt and had no success targeting his wideouts.

WR Russell Gage was the least-efficient wideout in football on Sunday, generating zero fantasy points on 49 snaps and two targets. Things won’t get much easier for the Falcons in Week 2 as they travel to Tampa to take on the defending Super Bowl champs.

Deebo Samuel dominates – While Amari Cooper and Tyreek Hill had more PPR points than Deebo Samuel on Sunday, Samuel was the league’s most efficient fantasy scorer on a per-snap basis.

Samuel scored 0.69 PPR points for each of his 46 snaps, which was the highest fantasy points per snap total of any player who played more than 20 snaps. Those figures were even higher before the 49ers called off the dogs with a huge third-quarter lead.

In all, Samuel was undoubtedly San Francisco’s No. 1 wideout, as much-heralded teammate Brandon Aiyuk did absolutely nothing against a vulnerable Detroit secondary. View Samuel as a high-upside weekly WR2.

Big WR performances – After Samuel’s league-leading points per snap average, several other wide receivers had huge performances. Tyreek Hill produced over 37 fantasy points on 57 snaps and Tyler Lockett, Antonio Brown, Deonte Harris, my boy Rondale Moore, and Amari Cooper all averaged over half a PPR point per snap.


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About Jody Smith 463 Articles
With over a decade of winning experience, Jody is a well-known fixture in the fantasy football community. He was named Fantasy Pros’ **Most Accurate Ranker** previously and was the site’s Top NFL over/under totals picker with a record 65% accuracy in 2020, while also ranking 5th in the country with a 55% against-the-spread hit rate. Jody has written for many sites over the years including Pro Football Focus, FantasyPros, CBS Sportsline, FantasyData, and is a regular contributor to the Fantasy Index magazine expert’s poll, draft, and auction. Jody’s experience ranking and projecting player performance will help prepare the Fulltime Fam for their big draft days as well as answers they can trust on Sunday for those ever crucial Who Do I Start questions.