• The Miami Dolphins passing attack is back: Jaylen Waddle achieved his second 100-yard game of the season, De’Von Achane caught two touchdowns, and Jonnu Smith caught nine passes.
• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back hat trick: All three Buccaneers running backs found the end zone in their first victory in over a month.
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Estimated reading time: 20 minutes
PFF's fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2024.
Kansas City Chiefs @ Carolina Panthers
- Noah Gray: 4 receptions, 66 yards, 2 touchdowns
- David Moore: 6 receptions, 81 yards, 1 touchdown
Jonathon Brooks’ very quiet debut: The second-round rookie only played five offensive snaps in his first NFL game.
Brooks tore his ACL last November, and it took over a year of recovery before the Panthers were comfortable playing him. His debut coincided with backup running back Miles Sanders landing on injured reserve due to an ankle injury. Given the Panthers’ 3-8 record, it wouldn’t be surprising if Sanders doesn’t return this season.
Brooks played two snaps in the middle of the second quarter and three in the middle of the fourth quarter, all in normal early down situations. Raheem Blackshear was the backup running back on passing downs.
Until we see a much larger role from Brooks, it’s safe to keep Chuba Hubbard in fantasy starting lineups, while Brooks needs to be left on the bench. If you’ve held on to him for this long, it makes sense to keep him at least for another few weeks.
Adam Thielen returns: The Panthers veteran wide receiver missed the last seven games due to a hamstring injury.
Thielen spent his career with the Vikings, primarily as an outside receiver. When he joined the Panthers last season, he moved to the slot in three-receiver sets while still playing in two-receiver sets. Under a new coaching staff this season, Thielen started the year as a slot-only player in three-receiver sets.
In his return, Thielen went right back to his role at the start of the season, consistently playing in the slot in three-receiver sets.
The big question now is what happens when Jalen Coker is back from his quadricep injury that left him inactive for this game. Coker has been playing well in the slot in recent weeks.
It’s worth noting that the Panthers made a subtle change at outside wide receiver. David Moore had been playing more of an X role while Xavier Legette plays more of a Z role, but those roles flipped this week after the bye. It seemed like the plan might be to keep Legette at X for the rest of the season, so either Thielen or Coker could play the Z role, allowing the Panthers to have their best receivers in the game. However, those plans could change after Moore caught six passes for 81 yards and a touchdown. That was the best wide receiver performance for a Panther outside of two games by Diontae Johnson earlier in the season.
Legette may be the only wide receiver in this group we’ll be able to trust, as he’s consistently on the field, and his 56 receiving yards this week against a strong Chiefs defense was his best-receiving total since September.
Monitor Ja’Tavion Sanders’ health: Sanders landed on his head while getting tackled late in the second quarter. He was carted off the field.
Sanders had movement in his arms, a positive sign after a scary scene. Like any injury, we are hoping for the best for Sanders and his health. Prior to the injury, Sanders was continuing his strong stretch of games with three catches for 49 yards, which led the Panthers receivers at halftime.
The bad news for Sanders from a fantasy football perspective is that Tommy Tremble was back. Tremble was inactive in four of the last five games due to injury. Tremble started his five games played this season, and Sanders was the backup in those games. This week, Sanders was the starter, but the two tight ends heavily rotated. Sanders only played 12 of the first 21 snaps. There were no strong run or pass tendencies as we see at times with other tight end rotations. Even with Sanders’ strong play, it’s hard to trust a tight end from a fantasy perspective when they are barely playing over 50% of their team's offensive snaps.
Tremble took over for the rest of the game and will be the Panthers' lead tight end for as long as Sanders is out. Tremble has only one game this season with more than 35 receiving yards in his career, so it’s best to leave him on the waiver wire despite his high playing time.
Chiefs settle into heavy receiver rotation: Travis Kelce was the only Chiefs wide receiver or tight end who played more than 65% of the team's offensive snaps.
For 2022 and most of 2023, the Chiefs rotated several receivers, making it hard to trust anyone, outside of Kelce, from a fantasy football standpoint. This was the second game of the year where Kansas City had both DeAndre Hopkins and JuJu Smith-Schuster. The Chiefs are only rotating four wide receivers this year unlike the five or six they rotated at times in recent seasons, but both Kelce and Noah Gray are playing more this year compared to last year.
Hopkins recorded the most receptions of the group but also ran the fewest routes. He had the one great game in a Chiefs uniform, but it will be hard to trust him going forward when the Chiefs are running more pass plays without Hopkins on the field.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco practiced on a limited basis all week, but the Chiefs decided to keep him out one more week due to his ankle injury. The Chiefs have a short week next week with a Friday game, which may have contributed to Kansas City opting to wait.
- Noah Gray has scored four touchdowns in the last two weeks, but his playing time decreased this week compared to his usual playing time. He has not caught more than four passes in a game this season. This was only his second game of the year with more than 40 receiving yards. While he hasn’t been consistent enough for redraft leagues this year, his dynasty value is rising.
- Chiefs third-string tight end Peyton Hendershot left in the third quarter due to a calf injury and didn’t return. If Hendershot missed time, expect Anthony Firkser to be the Chiefs' third tight end. After spending some time with the New York Jets this season, Firkser has been on the Kansas City practice squad for the last few weeks.
- The Panthers signed Deven Thompkins to the 53-man roster, rather than a practice squad elevation, to make him a top backup wide receiver for the rest of the season. Dan Chisena was a practice squad elevation with Jalen Coker out.
Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears
- Jordan Addison: 8 receptions, 162 yards, 1 touchdown
- D.J. Moore: 7 receptions, 106 yards, 1 touchdown
T.J. Hockenson is mostly back in a normal role: Hockenson’s playing time looked very similar to last season when he was healthy.
Hockenson tore his ACL and MCL at the end of last season, which kept him out the first eight weeks of this season. He returned in Week 9 but played under 50% of Minnesota's offensive snaps each of his first three games back.
Last week, Josh Oliver suffered an injury and Hockenson’s playing time didn’t increase. Johnny Mundt simply took the snaps that had been going to Oliver. Oliver didn’t practice this week due to both a wrist and ankle injury and was again inactive.
Hockenson played 38 of 42 snaps in 11 personnel this week, which was a big step up from recent weeks. He didn’t play at all in 21 personnel, which has been normal for him throughout his time with the Vikings. His snap rate was a little lower than most of last season, largely because the Vikings ran a lot of plays out of 21 personnel. In 12 personnel, he played nine of 13 snaps, losing a few Nick Muse, who was activated off injured reserve on Saturday.
He caught seven passes for 114 yards against a strong pass defense. His playing time has improved enough that he should be trusted in fantasy starting lineups for the rest of the year.
D’Andre Swift leads the backfield, but Roschon Johnson scores: Swift only scored one more PPR point than Johnson, but that is unlikely to be the norm.
Last week was the first week Thomas Brown served as the team’s offensive coordinator after Shane Waldron was fired. One notable change was Johnson consistently played in short-yardage situations. This is always noteworthy in fantasy because if a team has a short yardage back, they usually end up scoring the touchdowns.
Johnson did play a snap from the one-yard line snap this week, leading to a touchdown run, but it’s worth noting Johnson wasn’t consistently in at the goal line. In other short-yardage situations, it was consistently Swift on the field. While Johnson scored this week, in future weeks, it is just as likely that Swift will be the one scoring one-yard touchdowns.
The Bears added a new wrinkle to the offense this week with five plays where no running back was on the field. On those plays, the team used either four wide receivers and one tight end or three wide receivers and two tight ends. The Bears only had one other play this season with no running backs on the field. If this continues in future weeks, that will be a slight negative to the Bears’ running backs potential in the passing game.
Miscellaneous Notes
- In recent weeks, Cam Akers was at a near-even split with Aaron Jones, which seemed to be injury-related. This week, Jones returned to playing most of the snaps and taking most of the running back opportunities.
- Bears wide receiver Tyler Scott was a healthy inactive for the first time since Week 1. He was the Bears’ third wide receiver last season, but this year, he's fifth on the depth chart, while DeAndre Carter is the primary backup. He played, at most, three offensive snaps in a game this season and hasn’t had a consistent role on special teams.
- Cole Kmet reportedly went to the medical tent earlier in the second quarter, but he didn’t miss an offensive snap. It was the fifth time in his career that he played 100% of his team’s offensive snaps, and the first time since 2022.
- Gerald Everett played a season-low eight offensive snaps last week after the team fired his longtime coach Shane Waldron, who also coached him with the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks. His playing time decreased even further this week.
Tennessee Titans @ Houston Texans
- Tony Pollard: 24 carries, 119 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 receptions, 10 receiving yards
- Nico Collins: 5 receptions, 92 yards, 1 touchdown
Tony Pollard shines without Tyjae Spears: The second-year back was inactive due to a concussion.
Pollard has been excellent for the Titans in their victories, finishing with at least 22 carries in all three of their wins for at least 85 yards. He’s also run at least 16 times in all of their losses that were by at least one score.
Spears missed a few games earlier in the season, and Pollard has played at least 80% of Tennessee's offensive snaps in each game. This was the first time in Pollard’s career that he played over 90% of Tennessee's offensive snaps, finishing with 94% in this game.
Ideally, Spears will be ready to play again next Sunday, so Pollard will be back to around 65% of Tennesse's offensive snaps, but Pollard will likely be a must-start regardless of Spears’ health.
John Metchie III reaches a new high in snaps: Metchie played in over 70% of Houston's offensive snaps for the first time in his career.
Stefon Diggs was consistently playing around 80-85 offensive snaps for the Texans until his season-ending injury in Week 8. Metchie tends to take Diggs’ snaps from the slot in 11 personnel while Robert Woods takes most of the 12 personnel snaps.
Those tendencies became stronger last week, as Metchie played all 38 of the Texans’ 11 personnel snaps. This week, he again played in 100% of the 11 personnel snaps. The main reason his snap count reached a career-high this week is due to the game script. The Texans spent most of the day playing from behind or with a small lead. This led to more 11 personnel than usual, giving Metchie more snaps than usual.
This only led to one reception on three targets for six yards, but it was generally a good sign he continues to play so much despite how many other talented Houston wide receivers are healthy.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Nick Westbrook-Ikhine has scored a touchdown in six of his last seven games, but he also only has two games all season with more than two receptions.
- Chig Okonkwo set a new career-high in receiving yards today with 70. All 70 of his yards came from a game-winning touchdown catch in the fourth quarter. The Titans' schedule for tight ends is great over the rest of the season, but Okonkwo is averaging 2.2 receptions per game this season.
- Cade Stover was the most productive of the Texans tight ends in this game with three receptions for 26 yards and a touchdown, but for now, Dalton Schultz remains the clear top tight end on the depth chart based on playing time and routes run.
Detroit Lions @ Indianapolis Colts
- Jahmyr Gibbs: 21 carries, 90 yards, 2 touchdowns, 3 receptions, 9 receiving yards
- David Montgomery: 8 carries, 37 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 receptions, 36 receiving yards
Monitor all of the Colts wide receivers' health: Four of the Colts’ five wide receivers seemed to be dealing with an injury at some point during the game.
The Colts started the game relatively healthy at wide receiver. Both Michael Pittman (back) and Josh Downs (calf) were on the injury report but full participants in practice all week with no injury designations.
Pittman suffered a shoulder injury late in the first quarter. He was officially ruled questionable to return, but he was back to his usual amount of playing time to start the second drive. Alec Pierce was never officially reported with an injury, but he was spotted with the trainers. In the fourth quarter, Downs suffered a shoulder injury after a catch. He was able to return later in the quarter.
Backup wide receiver Ashton Dulin was the only player who couldn’t return to the game after suffering an ankle injury. Dulin has largely been used as a backup slot receiver this season who can also play out wide. If Dulin misses time, this could mean more snaps for Downs and Adonai Mitchell. It’s also possible Anthony Gould would be active on gamedays and play some snaps on offense.
Monitor David Montgomery’s health: Montgomery suffered a shoulder injury in the third quarter and didn’t return.
The Lions used a fairly normal running back rotation in the first half. Gibbs played 16 snaps to Montgomery's 14. The injury occurred in the middle of the third quarter when the Lions were up by eight points, and a few minutes later, they were up by 15.
Gibbs took each of the first 17 snaps in the fourth quarter, while Craig Reynolds played the final three within the last two minutes. Gibbs is already a must-start, but his fantasy value could be even higher if Montgomery misses time. Luckily, Montgomery already said that he will be good to go for Thursday’s game.
Monitor Kalif Raymond’s health: Raymond suffered a foot injury early in the third quarter and was ruled out for the game.
Raymond has spent all season as the fourth wide receiver on the depth chart. While some backup wide receivers play a high percentage of their snaps on run plays, the 5-foot-8, 180-pound Raymond has played a high percentage of his plays on passing plays. The Lions’ third wide receiver Tim Patrick played 120 more offensive plays than Raymond coming into this week — just 30 more passing plays compared to 90 more blocking plays.
After Raymond’s injury, Patrick started taking a higher percentage of the snaps in 11 personnel. Allen Robinson II played just as much in the first half as he did in the second. If Raymond misses time, we can expect Patrick to be a bigger part of the offense. However, it probably won’t be a large enough role to trust him in fantasy football.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Jonathan Taylor played 96% of the Colts' offensive snaps, which ties his season-high when from Week 1.
- Sam LaPorta missed last week but was a full participant in practice all week this week. He played over 90% of Detroit's offensive snaps for just the second time this season.
New England Patriots @ Miami Dolphins
- Jaylen Waddle: 8 receptions, 144 yards, 1 touchdown
- Jonnu Smith: 9 receptions, 87 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 carry, 0 rushing yards
Coming soon!
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New York Giants
- Bucky Irving: 12 carries, 87 yards, 1 touchdown, 6 receptions, 64 receiving yards
- Malik Nabers: 6 receptions, 64 yards
New York Giants rotate more at every position: The Giants made a clear move to look for the future after benching Daniel Jones. Quarterback isn’t the only position where they made a change.
The first change was at running back, where we saw more of a three-man rotation. This was likely partially due to the game script. Tracy played six of eight snaps on the first two drives where he ran the ball three times, but he only played twice on the other 10 plays in the half. Devin Singletary was the primary receiving back.
The Giants started the second half with Tracy, as he played seven of nine snaps on the first drive of the quarter and ran the ball four times. He only played nine of 32 snaps over the rest of the half, while both Singletary and Eric Gray received extended playing time. It is not great to see a former receiver having the third-most routes out of the backfield.
The Giants also made a change at wide receiver, as Darius Slayton and Jalin Hyatt split routes. Slayton had played at least 82% of New York's offensive snaps in every game he’s been healthy since Week 1 and played at least 92% of snaps in each game from Weeks 7-9 before missing Week 10.
At tight end, Theo Johnson played 73% of the Giant's offensive snaps, which was his second-lowest rate in a game. Since Week 6, he has played in at least 85% of New York's offensive snaps. His loss in snaps was largely on passing plays, as Daniel Bellinger played his most snaps since Week 3.
The Giants have one of the best schedules for fantasy players over the rest of the season, but this game was very concerning, both in terms of the quality of the offense and the rotation among players.
Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan return: The Buccaneers were the closest to full strength at wide receiver in over a month.
Evas played his first game since Week 7, and his first full game since Week 5 as he’s been dealing with a hamstring injury. McMillan didn’t play in the last two games due to a hamstring injury.
Evans was back to being the primary X receiver. He was rotated out a little more than usual but was still on the field for the clear majority of Tampa Bay's pass plays. He led the team in receiving yards with 68 off five passes. McMillan returned to the Z receiver role with Sterling Shepard in the slot, which is what the Buccaneers have done every time both receivers have been healthy since Chris Godwin’s season-ending injury.
In general, Rakim Jarrett was Evans’ backup, Trey Palmer was McMillan’s backup, and Ryan Miller was Shepard’s backup. Each player earned a reception for double-digit yards. The heavy rotation will make it difficult to trust any of the wide receivers other than Evans.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Bucky Irving got the ball to the one-yard line twice, while Sean Tucker entered the game for the one-yard opportunities. This was the first time all season Tucker was used in this way, as he hadn’t played a single snap within four yards of the end zone this season before this game.
- Malik Nabers was held without a target for the entire first half but then earned nine targets all in the second half.
- The New York Giants officially released Daniel Jones on Saturday and replaced him on the roster with Tim Boyle.
Dallas Cowboys @ Washington Commanders
- Terry McLaurin: 5 receptions, 102 yards, 1 touchdown
- CeeDee Lamb: 10 receptions, 67 yards, 1 carry, 1 rushing yard
Coming soon!
Denver Broncos @ Las Vegas Raiders
Coming soon!
San Francisco 49ers @ Green Bay Packers
Coming soon!
Arizona Cardinals @ Seattle Seahawks
Coming soon!
Philadelphia Eagles @ Los Angeles Rams
Coming soon!
Table Notes
- Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
- Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
- Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.
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