• Wide receivers shine in a shoot-out: Mike Evans, Darnell Mooney and Drake London all scored at least 23 PPR points.
• Kyle Pitts bounced back: The Atlanta Falcons tight end posted his best numbers in the season, which should leave him in fantasy starting lineups.
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Estimated reading time: 5 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.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Atlanta Falcons
- Drake London: 12 receptions, 154 yards, 1 touchdown
- Darnell Mooney: 9 receptions, 105 yards, 2 touchdowns
Kyle Pitts bounces back: Pitts playing time and statistics bounced back after hitting season lows last week.
Pitts didn’t catch any of his targets last week, and his playing time has slowly but surely dropped each week. There had been a general tendency for Charlie Woerner to come in for run plays, but Woerner had run seven routes last week that could have gone to Pitts, whose role last week was still better than most tight ends in the league, but the downward trend was concerning.
This week, Pitts posted his second-best snap rate of the season, only behind Week 1. Considering how many plays the Falcons ran, it was particularly impressive that his snap rate was high. Pitts caught seven passes for 88 yards, which is his best fantasy performance of the season despite not having a touchdown. While this was partially a product of the Falcons running a lot of plays, Pitts was still more involved than usual early in the game.
This game doesn’t necessarily mean he will be an asset to fantasy managers every week, but the combination of his target rate and snap rate is enough for Pitts to remain in fantasy starting lineups going forward.
Buccaneers continue running backs split: Rachaad White led the team in rushing yards for the first time this season.
White typically played at least 80% of the Buccaneers' offensive snaps last season. Over the first three games this season, that has fallen to 70%-74%. Bucky Irving has outplayed White so far, leading his playing time to drop to 58% of Tampa Bay's offensive snaps last week. That included White playing fewer snaps on early downs and in passing situations.
This week, the rotation was very similar to last week, as White played a little more than Irving on early downs while the two split short-yardage situations. The biggest difference in their usage from last week to this is that White was consistently on the field on third-and-medium or third-and-long situations, which wasn’t the case last week.
The big difference in performance was White broke a 56-yard run, but outside of that play, he ran the ball nine times for 16 yards. Irving was consistently making positive gains. Irving has averaged 4.8 yards per carry in four of five games this season, while this was the fourth time White had averaged 4.8 or better in his 39-game career. Both players received few opportunities as the Falcons won the time of possession battle, and the passing game was generally successful.
Both players will remain borderline fantasy starters depending on the opponent.
Buccaneers adjust at wide receiver: The Buccaneers didn’t have three of their top six wide receivers.
Jalen McMillan missed his second-straight game due to a hamstring injury, while Trey Palmer was out after suffering a concussion last week. McMillan had been the team's third option, behind Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, while Palmer took over as the third option last week.
Veteran Sterling Shepard, who started this season on the practice squad, was signed to the active roster and served as the team’s third wide receiver throughout the game. He was expected to rotate at least a little bit with undrafted rookie Kameron Johnson, but Johnson suffered an ankle injury on his first offensive snap and didn’t return. Former Seattle Seahawk’ Kameron Johnson was elevated from the practice squad, and he became the primary backup throughout the game and didn’t play much. He signed with the Buccaneers in June.
This left the team relying almost completely on their reliable weapons — Evans, Godwin and Cade Otton, although Shepard scored a touchdown. The Buccaneers' third wide receiver should largely be avoided in redraft leagues, but there is always a chance they could have a good game due to how much defenses need to focus on other wide receivers.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Bijan Robinson continued to rotate with Tyler Allgeier a little more than earlier in the season, but it’s worth noting he was on the injury report due to a hamstring injury and limited in practice. Also, his was a short week.
- Drake London missed 13 plays in the second quarter while being evaluated for a concussion. He was able to return to the game. He went back to his usual role of never leaving the field once he returned to the game.
- London caught eight passes for 117 yards and a touchdown from the slot. In both 2022 and 2023, he only had 22 receptions from the slot, and he scored one touchdown in the two seasons combined. His previous high in receiving yards from the slot was 55, which was two weeks ago against the Kansas City Chiefs.
- London was removed from the game on the second to last play after an injury. He appeared fine during a post-game interview on the field shortly after the game. KhaDarel Hodge, who replaced London earlier in the game, again replaced London to score the game-winning touchdown.
- Cade Otton has caught 16 passes over his last three games, which is the most for him in any three-game stretch of his NFL career.
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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