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John Laghezza's fantasy football RB breakouts watch for Week 3 based on snap count risers/fallers in 2025. Whose usage and fantasy value is trending up or down?
Whether it's Week 3 or Week 10, the fantasy football season can pass you in a blink once it hits full swing. Every NFL slate rewrites team trajectories, and weeks feel like an eternity at times. At the end of the day, some things stay the same -- regardless of format or flavor, touches, targets, and opportunities rule the day. Talent be darned, opportunities have always been and continue to reign supreme as the driving commodity.
As much as players, coordinators, and owners spend Monday through Saturday lying right to our faces, they're left with no choice but to show their cards via player deployment once the whistle blows -- and that's where I come in. Every week, I'll be right here at RotoBaller, breaking down the weekend's most impactful changes in utilization and what it means to fantasy gamers going forward.
Should we buy the dip and push our chips in on talented players off to disappointing starts, or call shenanigans on a top and sell the rip on a false breakout? We won't know until I'm done doing my due diligence, digging through whatever granular snap, route, target, and touch data I can get these grubby hands on. With so much positional ranking movement as fresh information rolls in, this week's piece evolved into a running back-focused article. But don't worry -- I scraped week-over-week wide receiver data to rank the biggest risers and fallers at the bottom. Good luck!
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Usage Bumps I'm Buying
Cam Skattebo, RB, New York Giants
Most of the bumps in Week 2 usage represent small tremors, signaling pivots coming down the line, but not in New York. After an unimpressive 2024 campaign from presumed incumbent Tyrone Tracy Jr. (38% success rate, -0.12 EPA/attempt, 4.4 yards/rush), many of us thought it was only a matter of time until Cam Skattebo emerged. Well, as soon as Big Blue found itself in a tight spot, HC Brian Daboll flipped the switch.
After seeing the field for all of seven snaps in the opener, the Giants' fourth-round pick out of Arizona State University led the team in snaps (41), carries (11), and yards (45) against Dallas in Week 2. Maybe more importantly, Skattebo dominated backfield red-zone opportunities as the only RB to touch the ball near the paint.
Cam Skattebo might be the SCARIEST RB to tackle in the entire league.
😳😳😳
The Giants rookie RB is the DEFINITION of a bruiser. pic.twitter.com/UFJbetBdms
— Rookie Watch (@RookieWatxh) September 15, 2025
Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Always the first to scrutinize coaches and organizations for signs of lying, there's no hiding actions when it comes to transactions. Jacksonville's willingness to move on from Tank Bigsby instantly transformed Travis Etienne Jr. into a fantasy workhorse, but that same compliment trickles down to fourth-round backup Bhayshul Tuten.
After just one professional game, the former Hokie quadrupled his snap share with a boatload of impressive efficiency stats to validate the move (73.0% success rate, +0.12 EPA/attempt, 3.9 yards after contact/rush, 0.75 fantasy points/snap).
While Tuten's standalone value remains capped in standard 12-team fantasy formats for now, he's vaulted himself onto the shortest list of most valuable handcuffs in the game.
Beautiful juke from Bhayshul Tuten on his first career TD 🙌#RatedRookie
— The Draft Network (@TheDraftNetwork) September 14, 2025
Blake Corum, RB, Los Angeles Rams
When Sean McVay and Los Angeles' front office decided to back up the truck for Kyren Williams, an ambiguous backfield beyond that made the Rams' handcuff situation an afterthought. Worried Blake Corum disappointed in 2024 to the point of replacement, I personally drafted more Jarquez Hunter shares than I care to admit. Well, Hunter's yet to earn his first NFL touch as Corum secures a firm grasp on the backup role.
As a full-on Williams offseason fader, I feared a lack of explosivity would eventually force ceded opportunities, which are supremely critical to the volume Williams historically needs to excel.
Corum served as a hyper-effective change-of-pace back for the Rams to excellent results: 83.0% success rate, +0.77 EPA/attempt, 4.0 yards after contact/rush, 33% explosive rush rate, 1.86 fantasy points/touch. Another leap in utilization could mean borderline flex appeal -- but if you wait until that happens, it will be entirely too late to act.
Kyle Monangai, RB, Chicago Bears
It's still early for victory laps, but what we've seen from Chicago starter D'Andre Swift (28.0% success rate, -0.26 EPA/attempt, 4.0 yards after contact/rush, 0.27 fantasy points/snap) is exactly why I recommended everyone avoid him in drafts. The Bears' complete offensive ineptitude aside, no team's going to endure that lack of production for too long.
HC Ben Johnson hinted at a changing of the guard through usage, as Monangai's usage tripled week-over-week to finish just nine snaps shy of Swift.
Sure, it's hard to see the way things are going in the Windy City and actively decide to participate in the dumpster fire -- but it's a long season, things change, and opportunity is king. Not even one month ago, an entire industry lay awake at night dreaming of the Bears' ceiling case. It could just be a matter of patience, so position yourself accordingly.
Bears RB Kyle Monangai pressing front side as long as possible to open up space on backside. Finishes run with violence. pic.twitter.com/NLCGEzIzZF
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) August 11, 2025
Usage Downturns I'm Benching
Omarion Hampton, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
If this truly is the greatest rookie RB class in a generation, maybe someone out there would like to let them know. At least one out of every 12 of us is asking ourselves why we took Chargers rookie Omarion Hampton over Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the third. I'm not judging, either ... I did it, too. The expectations of a run-heavy approach with the lack of transparency around Najee Harris' eyeballs sounded the siren's song.
Fast forward to the present day, and it's a literal worst-case scenario for Hampton drafters. Jim Harbaugh's Chargers rank top-3 in pass rate (72.1%), plus Harris' vision is apparently good enough to out-touch Hampton on 60% of snaps.
The rookie's 26.5% touch per snap rate on Sunday must ring alarm bells for fantasy GMs. To be clear, don't drop any of these young guys -- just know that starting them right now borders on malpractice. Don't be hard-headed; get active in the trade market and on your waiver wire.
TreVeyon Henderson, RB, New England Patriots
Audible sigh. The jury's still out on TreVeyon Henderson, and smart money's still riding on explosives to come. That said, losing critical snaps and playing third fiddle to Antonio Gibson wasn't necessarily on my fantasy bingo card. Henderson's shown explosivity when given a chance, but the workload's simply not there for fantasy purposes.
Call me stubborn; I'm refusing any lowball offers with prejudice. It may sound like a broken record regarding rookies, but Henderson's talent will win out eventually. Just don't be too stubborn in your effort to find out when.
TreVeyon Henderson bluffs protection, slips out for a screen, then mauls a DB. Protection chops + receier skills + speed + power. Henderson is really *really* good pic.twitter.com/Bm0z5RBZfL
— Ollie Connolly (@OllieConnolly) September 14, 2025
James Conner, RB, Arizona Cardinals
Age curve backers are already nodding when it comes to the slow start for 30-year-old James Conner. Not only has second-year backup Trey Benson eclipsed 40+% of the Cardinals' 2025 rush share, but Arizona's also winning. Why does that matter so much? These last two game scripts should represent the optimal runouts for a guy like Conner.
Benson took a tremendous leap in pass-game usage last weekend (24% team target share, 37.5% target/route), one I don't see reversing, especially as the schedule gets tougher. Not a single player in the Arizona backfield has cracked a top-15 positional finish this season, so some kind of shake-up is not out of the question.
Ranking Notable WR Usage Risers
- Troy Franklin, DEN
- Dont'e Thornton Jr., LV
- Isaac TeSlaa, DET
- Jaylin Lane, WAS
- Calvin Austin III, PIT
- Jahan Dotson, PHI
- Chimere Dike, TEN
Ranking Notable WR Usage Fallers
- Marvin Mims Jr., DEN
- DeMario Douglas, NE
- Jayden Higgins, HOU
- DeAndre Hopkins, BAL
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