RADIO
Welcome to Week 11 of the fantasy football season. This article series takes the recent snap and touch history of skill players into account, and now that we have three weeks in the books there is a bit more of a sample to work with.
Week 10 saw a litter of players across the league see curious usage, and that is always worthy of a write-up. This piece takes a look at the snaps and touches from each week to break down what is or is not important for fantasy football moving forward.
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Running Back Snaps for Fantasy Football
D'Andre Swift (31%), Detroit Lions
- 6 carries, 6 yards
- 3 targets, 1 reception, 6 yards
- 1 TD
Swift has been a disappointment since returning from injury. While he has produced a modest amount of PPG over the past 3 outings, he is playing sparingly and extremely inefficiently as a rusher. The only logical conclusion to this is that he is playing through injuries and the team wants to protect him at all costs. Luckily, there have not been any reports of setbacks and Swift has still been used in red-zone situations that have allowed him to score twice over the past 3 games.
Assuming that Swift is closer to 100% than upon return, he is a solid player to buy given the perception of mediocrity and potential upside relative to other attainable RB prospects.
Kyren Williams (27%), Los Angeles Rams
- 1 carry, 9 rushing yards
- 3 targets, 3 receptions, 30 yards
Kyren Williams took his first offensive snaps ever in Week 10 and was productive on a per-touch basis while playing a solid chunk of the game. However, his touches exclusively came later in the game when Los Angeles was down multiple scores. There is no reason to believe that Williams cannot beat out a useless Cam Akers for snaps in the near future. All Williams has to do is play on third-downs and catch dump-offs to sustain fantasy relevance which can be done with the absence of WR1/first-read Cooper Kupp.
Williams is worth adding for the potential floor of a scatback in a horrible offense. He is not very skilled outside of pass-blocking and receiving but that might be enough to earn significant snaps in this mediocre backfield.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire (4%), Kansas City Chiefs
- 2 targets, 0 receptions
There is not much that can explain CEH's fall from grace. He had an extremely productive start to the season on the whole and then his snaps began to slip until cratering these past two weeks. CEH's numbers are not stellar but they are also not off from his teammates. He's a better pass catcher than both Pacheco and McKinnon while somewhat worse on the ground than Pacheco.
CEH's issue is consistency and to a certain degree, pass-blocking. He had conditioning issues as recently as this past offseason and has been a poor pass-protector his entire career. While pass pro may be overrated to some, it does not get RBs on the field.
Andy Reid mentioned wanting to get CEH more in the mix but at the end of the day, that is on him...the Head Coach. Hold CEH for now but drop if needed.
Wide Receivers Snaps for Fantasy Football
Christian Watson (84%), Green Bay Packers
- 8 targets, 4 receptions, 107 yards
- 3 TD
Watson played a career-high in snaps this past week and rewarded any managers bold enough to start him despite not producing a single viable week for fantasy. With Romeo Doubs out and Allen Lazard limited with a shoulder injury, Watson stepped up with one of the league's best fantasy lines of the season.
Is this repeatable? Likely not, but as long as Watson's snap-share remains up, he will see his share of deep targets that could result in a few more boom weeks down the stretch. He is worth inserting in lineups as a FLEX play to help win a given week.
Chase Claypool (31%), Chicago Bears
- 1 target, 1 reception, 7 yards
Oddly enough, Claypool's snaps decreased from his first game with Chicago where he joined the team mid-week. Despite Byron Pringle's activation, the assumption was that Claypool, in his second game with the team, would be a significant factor in the passing game given that Chicago gave up a second-round pick for him. That did not turn out to be the case as he ran just 7 routes in a game that was quite competitive between the Bears and Lions.
For the near future, Claypool cannot be started until we see an uptick in snaps and routes. He is a talented player but learning a new team's playbook is not always easy within a few weeks. The upside though is worth keeping on benches.
Van Jefferson (28%), Los Angeles Rams
- 3 targets, 3 receptions, 27 yards
- 1 TD
Van Jefferson's snaps have decreased in each game since his activation from IR. Jefferson suffered an injury in preseason that kept him out for the first half of the season and he has not looked like himself since. While a buffer period is deserved by every player returning from a long-term injury, Jefferson's snap decrease is curious.
Nevertheless, with Cooper Kupp potentially out for the season due to ankle surgery, Jefferson's presence will be much needed for an offense barren of talent. It remains unlikely that Jefferson can produce fantasy-relevant numbers but for anyone willing to take a shot on him as the Rams' WR1, it is understandable for deeper fantasy leagues. He is best left on the waiver wire by all means in shallower leagues.
Tight Ends Snaps for Fantasy Football
Taysom Hill (40%), New Orleans Saints
- 3 rushes, 1 yard
- 1 pass attempt, 0 completions
Taysom Hill remains an enigma as he has not provided real fantasy value in over a month. Since his Week 5 outburst, Hill is averaging 4.8 PPG and that includes his work rushing, receiving, and passing. He's had two semi-valuable games between Week 7 and 8 but otherwise, it's all a dud. Hill remains a threat around the goal line but the Saints' offense is so bad that they do not get there often enough to capitalize with him.
Maybe he benefits from the lack of trust in "starter" Andy Dalton and takes on more passing snaps in the near future but that is the only way to justify starting him over real TEs moving forward. Continue to roster Hill but don't feel the need to insert him in lineups.
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