This is a premium feature for Fulltime Members but is free to all this week. We’ll be adding analysis throughout the week.
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.
GET THIS SNAP REPORT ALL SEASON LONG!
THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO SAVE 30%!
Are you seriously still on the sidelines? Proven track record to help you win. Join the fun and Become a FULLTIME MEMBER! We’re chatting 24/7 in our Discord and when you join, you get access to exclusive Member Only perks such as: Access to our customized rankings and projections, deep dive downloads, waiver wire suggestions, private Who Do I Start Advice, our WR/CB Matchups report, a Survivor Contest, Member area chat in our Discord and to top it all off, 5 free monthly drafts into our Weekly Draft Contests! That’s just the tip of the iceberg! JOIN the Fun, and Get Yourself to the Championship. The TD30 coupon code to save 30% expires this Sunday. It’s your last chance to save 30%! Do it now!
