Preseason Week 1 Fantasy Football Game Recap: Carolina Panthers vs. New York Jets

The Carolina Panthers wide receiver rotation was intense: Carolina used six different wide receivers with the starters, with a different combination each drive.
Michael Carter is leading the backup running back competition: Carter started over and outplayed Zonovan Knight.
Tyler Conklin could be hard to start in fantasy: C.J. Uzomah was a major part of the Jets' tight end rotation, which will restrict Conklin’s offensive snaps.

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New York Jets @ Carolina Panthers

The Panthers complicated wide receiver room: The Panthers used six different wide receivers during Bryce Young’s three drives.

D.J. Chark Jr., Adam Thielen and Jonathan Mingo started the game for Carolina.
Chark only played on the first drive before his day was done. That is a good indication his starting job is secure.
Thielen played on the first two drives. He was consistently playing in the slot in three-receiver sets. He only played 28.6% of his snaps in the slot last season with the Minnesota Vikings.
He graded better out wide than in the slot in addition to posting a better target share and yards per route run, so this move to the slot is a little surprising.
Mingo starting in his first preseason game as a rookie is a pretty strong sign he will be among the receivers in 11 personnel in Week 1.
The Panthers stuck with three-receiver sets on their first drive, so we couldn’t confirm he would be the odd man out in 12 personnel.
Mingo left for the second drive and returned for the third drive, so his job isn’t necessarily secure.
Terrace Marshall Jr. was expected to be a starter over Mingo early in the season given his experience, but this was a decent sign Marshall is fourth on the depth chart.
Laviska Shenault Jr. also received snaps on the second drive while Shi Smith played on the third drive.
Marshall, Shenault and Smith all continued to play once Matt Corral replaced Bryce on the fourth drive.
Chark, Thielen and Mingo are all worth late-round fliers in case they work out, but Marshall no longer seems worth the late-round pick.

Jets backup running back battle heats up: Michael Carter and Zonovan Knight split time with the starters with Breece Hall still sidelined.

Carter started the game, but the Jets rotated between him and Knight roughly every three plays.
Carter was the more impressive of the two.
Once the Jets switched to their second team for this game, rookie Israel Abanikanda took snaps out of the backfield.
Chances are both Carter and Knight would see significant playing time if Hall isn’t ready for Week 1, and the Jets don’t add Dalvin Cook.
It’s also possible one of these players doesn’t make the roster, as a healthy hall is assured one roster spot, and Abanikanda will likely take another.

A glimpse into the Jets wide receiver rotation: New York only used some of their receivers Saturday, but it was enough to gain some information about what to expect in September.

The Jets rested a number of starters, including Garrett Wilson, while Randall Cobb has been out with an injury.
This left Allen Lazard, Corey Davis and Mecole Hardman Jr. on top of the depth chart.
Lazard and Davis generally played every snap, outside of taking a little time off near the end of a 13-play drive.
Hardman was largely restricted to snaps out of 11 personnel.
He only played in two-thirds of offensive snaps without Wilson and Cobb, so chances are Hardman will see even less playing time when they are playing.
It’s fine to draft Hardman in best ball leagues for when he breaks big plays, but it will be difficult for him to make an impact in redraft leagues without injuries.
This also makes it pretty clear Davis will remain a major part of the offense. This could be implied given his $11.2 million cap hit, but Saturday gave me even more evidence.

The Jets tight end duo: Tyler Conklin was the tight end in clear passing situations, but C.J. Uzomah also saw significant playing time.

The two played together in two tight end sets, but on one-third of the plays with the starters, Uzomah was the solo tight end.
That kind of rotation will make it difficult for Conklin to be a fantasy starter.
The one piece of good news is second-year tight end Jeremy Ruckert didn’t start playing until the backups came in.
Ruckert’s had a strong training camp and was among the players who got to sit out the Hall of Fame Game.
This made it look like a two-man rotation at the top instead of three.

Miscellaneous Notes

Miles Sanders tweaked his groin in practice earlier in the week. It’s not expected to be serious, but it was enough for him to sit this game.
Hayden Hurst was the starting tight end today, which was no surprise. It was good to see him dominate offensive snaps, giving him a chance to be a fantasy starter this season if he gains chemistry with Bryce Young.

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.