Week 5's iteration of Thursday Night Football arrived with a little more fanfare than last week‘s, as it pitted together two teams that could very well be in the Super Bowl hunt come January. There were no particularly standout performances in this one, but there are more than enough exciting talking points from a fantasy football perspective, especially with how these teams used their wide receivers compared to past weeks.
As always, this collection of fantasy reactions will include snap counts for skill players on each team along with notes on players who saw their fantasy stocks rise or fall during the action.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Chicago Bears
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Chicago Bears |
| WR | WR |
| Mike Evans – 60 snaps | Allen Robinson II – 55 snaps |
| Tyler Johnson – 56 snaps | Darnell Mooney – 41 snaps |
| Scotty Miller – 45 snaps | Anthony Miller – 26 snaps |
| Cyril Grayson – 12 snaps | Javon Wims – 17 snaps |
| Jaydon Mickens – 8 snaps | Ted Ginn Jr. – 4 snaps |
| TE | TE |
| Rob Gronkowski – 57 snaps | Jimmy Graham – 48 snaps |
| Cameron Brate – 33 snaps | Demetrius Harris – 28 snaps |
| Tanner Hudson – 16 snaps | Cole Kmet – 21 snaps |
| J.P. Holtz – 5 snaps | |
| HB | HB |
| Ronald Jones – 49 snaps | David Montgomery – 51 snaps |
| Ke'Shawn Vaughn – 18 snaps | Cordarrelle Patterson – 15 snaps |
| Leonard Fournette – 1 snap | Ryan Nall – 4 snaps |
| Total – 71 snaps | Total – 63 snaps |
Winner: WR Allen Robinson II, Chicago Bears
Touchdowns were few and far between tonight, and no one who did snag a touchdown had more than 60 total yards. Robinson wins this one with a 10-catch, 90-yard performance. He had more than double the receiving yardage of the next closest Chicago Bears pass-catcher. While people who have Robinson would have loved a touchdown to go along with it, his performance over the last three weeks isn’t something you can be mad about.
Loser: RB David Montgomery, Chicago Bears
Fantasy owners might not be too disappointed in Montgomery — he found the end zone and tallied seven catches, after all — but he averaged just under 3 yards per carry and only just over 4 yards per catch, which wasn’t particularly effective.
On top of that, he started losing playing time to Cordarrelle Patterson. Last week, Montgomery logged 53 snaps compared to Patterson's 11. Tonight, Montgomery was still the clear lead back, but he didn’t dominate snaps the same way. His inefficiency had plenty to do with Tampa Bay’s defense, and he should turn it around in the coming weeks, but Patterson’s emergence is limiting his upside.
Waiver Wire Target: WR Tyler Johnson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Johnson was the 12th wide receiver on our 2020 NFL Draft Big Board this offseason. He was drafted in the fifth round — which was later than he should have been drafted — but ended in a good situation with the Buccaneers. He hadn’t caught an NFL pass coming into tonight’s game but was given more of an opportunity with Tampa's top two receivers out due to injury and another two playing at less than 100%. Johnson made the most of it, with four catches for 61 yards, and he ultimately led the team in receiving yards. Johnson's good performance should at least give him more opportunities in a wide receiver rotation. If some of the receivers remain hurt, he could be a starter in the right matchups.
Player To Drop: WR Anthony Miller, Chicago Bears
Miller’s playing time has been limited over the first four weeks. He had played 85.9% of 11-personnel snaps over the first four games and just 6.8% of snaps when they were in anything else. Against the Buccaneers on Thursday night, Miller was never used outside of 11 personnel, and his 11-personnel snaps were down to 76.5%, with Javon Wims taking some of those snaps. This led to a four-catch, 28-yard performance. Miller isn’t being used enough to ever count on him for a big game, and it would take the Bears seeing him as more than a slot receiver for him to see significantly more playing time.
© 2024 PFF - all rights reserved.