• Malik Nabers makes his New York Giants debut: The first-round rookie played over the first three drives but wasn’t targeted.
• Ja’Lynn Polk doesn’t start for the New England Patriots: The Patriots were missing two wide receivers due to injury, but that wasn’t enough for Polk to be one of the three wide receivers on the first drive.
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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.
Carolina Panthers @ New England Patriots
Patriots rookie wide receivers begin low on the depth chart: Ja’Lynn Polk didn’t play a snap with the starters while Javon Baker is currently eighth on the depth chart, at best.
The Patriots rested wide receivers Kendrick Bourne and DeMario Douglas, who are dealing with injuries. Bourne remains on the physically unable to perform list while Douglas has been dealing with a hand injury. This left K.J. Osborn and Tyquan Thornton as the starting outside wide receivers while JuJu Smith-Schuster played in the slot. On the second drive, Polk and Jalen Reagor took over as the two outside receivers while Smith-Schuster remained in the slot. Thornton rotated back in for Reagor on the third drive.
While it would have been great to see Polk with the starters, it is fairly common for rookie wide receivers to begin the preseason further down the depth chart and not work their way up until later. Throughout the first quarter, Polk played exclusively on the outside, but once players further down the depth chart started playing, Polk began playing more snaps in the slot. Baker's concerns are a little higher considering the veterans who are fighting for a starting spot. He didn’t play his first snap until the Patriots' fourth drive in the second quarter when all of the veterans stopped playing.
The only veteran to receive good news Thursday night is Osborn. He was the only wide receiver to play one drive and would be a starter if the season began today. The veteran to be most concerned about is Smith-Schuster, who was playing in the slot in Douglas’ absence. The four other wide receivers with first-quarter snaps were all playing in two-receiver sets, but Smith-Schuster wasn’t. He might be assured a roster spot because almost all of his salary would be dead money if he’s cut, but realistically, Polk or Bourne could be a backup slot if Douglas misses regular season time.
At this point, the roster spots for Douglas, Polk, Baker and Osborn are locked in. Bourne will make it if healthy, leaving one or two spots for Thornton, Reagor and Smith-Schuster. Kayshon Boutte is too far down the depth chart to be considered at this point.
Don’t read into how late Jonathan Mingo played: The Panthers rested over one-third of the roster, but sophomore wide receiver Mingo played most of the first half.
First-round rookie Xavier Legette missed this game due to injury while Diontae Johnson and Adam Thielen were among the veterans to take the night off. The Panthers only have 10 receivers on the roster, which is tied for the fewest among teams, so they only had seven wide receivers available for this game. Therefore, it made sense for everyone available to play roughly half of the game. Mingo was taken out at the end of the first quarter.
Mingo is fighting for the third wide receiver spot with Legette. Mingo probably shouldn’t be drafted in most leagues because of where he sits on the depth chart, but this game should not hurt his value.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Panthers second-round rookie running back Jonathon Brooks remains on the non-football injury list. He’s expected to miss at least the start of the regular season.
- Carolina rested running backs Chuba Hubbard, Miles Sanders and Raheem Blackshear.
- Tight ends Ian Thomas and Tommy Tremble were among the Panthers not playing due to injury. That made it impossible to get a sense of how fourth-round rookie Ja’Tavion Sanders’ playing time will look this season outside of him being among the top three on the depth chart.
- Starting Patriots tight end Hunter Henry had the game off. Austin Hooper’s job as the second tight end seems secure, as he only played on the first drive.
- Rhamondre Stevenson started the game for the Patriots while Antonio Gibson took over on the second drive. This only shows Stevenson is ahead of Gibson on the depth chart, which we already knew, and gave no indication of how snaps may be distributed among the two this season.
- Ihmir Smith-Marsette was the Panthers' initial kick returner.
Detroit Lions @ New York Giants
Tyrone Tracy is New York’s clear RB2: Tracy played nearly all of New York's snaps with the starters over Eric Gray.
Devin Singletary is the Giants' expected starter, and he was among the starters who had the night off. The only other running backs on the roster are Tracy, Gray and two former undrafted rookies with no regular-season experience.
The Giants released their initial depth chart earlier in the week with Gray in the second spot, but Tracy took all but two snaps on the first four drives. If a veteran is playing ahead of a rookie at this point of the preseason, it’s not too noteworthy, but a rookie playing ahead of a veteran this early is.
Tracy is worth a late-round draft pick because it appears he’s an injury away from having a feature role in the Giants offense. It’s certainly possible Tracy could take over the starting job at some point this season if Singletary struggles, making him a little more valuable than some other handcuffs.
Giants wide receiver depth chart takes shape: Malik Nabers made his debut while other roster spots are on the line.
The Giants rested slot receiver Wan’Dale Robinson and veteran Darius Slayton. Nabers played 11 of his 12 snaps lined up out wide, so it seems clear these three are penciled in as the starting wide receivers. It was noted in Nabers’ player profile that he played better from the slot than out wide in college, and if he’s stuck out wide, that could hurt his fantasy value a little bit.
Jalin Hyatt played 11-of-13 snaps on the first two drives. There were reports Hyatt has been playing with the first team more than Slayton in training camp, but the fact that Hyatt played and Slayton didn’t make it look like this is still a battle.
Isaiah McKenzie was the primary slot receiver for this game. Allen Robinson II and Isaiah Hodgins were the backup outside receivers. Either McKenzie or Gunner Olszewski will likely take one wide receiver spot, partially dependent on who can win the return job. Robinson and Hodgins are also likely fighting for one spot.
The Giants tight end rotation is unsettled: The tight end job is wide open after Darren Waller‘s retirement.
The Giants retained Daniel Bellinger and Lawrence Cager, drafted Theo Johnson and added free agent Chris Manhertz in an attempt to replace Waller. Cager missed this game due to a hamstring injury, but the other three played with the first unit in this game. Cager was listed second on the initial depth chart behind Bellinger.
On the first two drives, Johnson played all of the 11 personnel snaps while Bellinger and Manhertz played all of the 12 personnel snaps. It’s basically impossible for someone to be a fantasy starting tight end just playing in one personnel grouping. On the third drive, Johnson played all four 12 personnel snaps while Bellinger and Manhertz split them. Bellinger played two snaps in 11 personnel and Manhertz played one. On the fourth drive, Johnson and Bellinger played the whole drive outside of one play by Johnson in 11 personnel.
There is still plenty of time for Johnson to emerge as an every-down tight end, but at the moment, it is clearly a battle. The fact that Manhertz is very involved in the competition will make it unlikely Johnson plays enough snaps to be a fantasy starter this season unless he plays well.
Craig Reynolds is currently holding onto the RB3 job: Reynolds played every snap for the Lions on the first three drives.
Reynolds has been part of the Lions running back rotation over the last three seasons. The Lions have three other veterans below him on the depth chart, including Jermar Jefferson, Zonovan Knight and Jake Funk, but they didn't rotate with Reynolds. Jefferson took most of the second quarter until fourth-round rookie Sione Vaki started playing.
This means Vaki is the only threat to Reynolds, as we typically see rookies start low on the depth chart. Vaki had some nice runs, but he needs to surpass Jefferson on the depth chart before he has a chance to pass Reynolds. The third spot is important because if either lead running back suffers an injury, the third running back would likely play more snaps. We may see the Lions keep four running backs on the depth chart.
Miscellaneous Notes
- The Lions rested running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Kalif Raymond, and tight ends Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright.
- Daurice Fountain and Antoine Green continued as the primary wide receivers throughout the first half. Either one could be the Lions' fourth wide receiver, which means they are another injury away from significant playing time.
- There have been reports Donovan Peoples-Jones has fallen down the depth chart and is in danger of getting cut, and his playing time in this game reflected that. He didn’t see his first offensive snap until the end of the first half, with four wide receivers seeing significant playing time before him. That places him eighth on the depth chart.
- Isaiah McKenzie was the Giants' primary kick returner while Isaiah Williams was the Lions' primary kick returner.
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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