• Tyjae Spears factors in more: For the first time, both Tony Pollard and Spears reached double-digit carries for the Tennessee Titans. And Spears scored his first touchdown of the season.
• Kenneth Walker III returns: The Seattle Seahawks’ lead runner returned to the starting lineup and notched three touchdowns.
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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.
Tennessee Titans @ Miami Dolphins
- Tony Pollard: 22 carries, 88 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 receptions, 20 receiving yards
- Tyjae Spears: 15 carries, 39 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 receptions, 0 receiving yards
Titans rely heavily on the run game: Tyjae Spears ran with the ball much more than in any of his three previous outings this season.
The Titans’ reliance on Spears was likely due to quarterback Will Levis exiting with a shoulder injury he suffered while diving toward the first-down marker. Tennessee then gained a lead early in the second quarter with Mason Rudolph at the helm and never let go.
The team’s running back rotation was similar to past weeks. Pollard played a majority of early-down and short-yardage snaps, while Spears played most of the passing-down snaps. Pollard started the game and, like every week, played all of the early-down snaps on the first drive. Pollard also took the early-down snaps on the second drive, which Spears started in each of the past two weeks. If anything, the Titans seemed like they were going more toward Pollard early in the game.
The rest of the drives were a mix of Pollard taking all the early-down snaps and Pollard and Spears splitting that work. As the game progressed, the Titans kept running at a higher rate. Assuming Levis’ injury isn’t serious, Spears should be a sell-high candidate. The Titans have their bye next week, so Levis has an additional week to recover.
Titans continue their wide receiver rotation: DeAndre Hopkins played less than half of the offensive snaps in this game.
Hopkins played 27% of snaps in Week 1, which seemed like the Titans easing him back due to injury. In the past three games, his playing time has stabilized around 45% of offensive snaps. He has not shown up on the injury report in the past three weeks, outside of getting a veteran rest day, so this appears to be Tennessee’s plan for Hopkins all season.
There is a clear tendency for Hopkins to play in passing situations while Treylon Burks is in for runs. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine was more involved this week because of his run-blocking ability. This rotation doesn’t seem like it will be changing anytime soon, making it difficult to put Hopkins in fantasy starting lineups. Over the middle parts of the season, it will be fine to hold onto him when your other fantasy wide receivers have bye weeks, but fantasy managers might be able to cut him over the last third of the season.
Jaylen Wright steps up: The Dolphins rookie running back was more involved this week.
Raheem Mostert missed his third straight game with a chest injury. In the Dolphins’ past two games, De’Von Achane was the clear starter with Wright and Jeff Wilson Jr. splitting time in the backup role. Wilson suffered a knee injury in pre-game warmups and was ruled questionable. He ended up playing, but Wright was given the opportunity to be the primary backup.
Achane averaged 7.8 yards per carry as a rookie but has tallied 3.5 over the past three weeks. He was even less efficient in this game, with 10 carries for 15 yards. Achane has particularly struggled when facing eight men in the box, and defenses have used eight men in the box more often without Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback.
This led the team to turn to Wright, who was slightly more effective as a runner. Wright ended up receiving nearly as many carries as Achane. Part of Wright’s playing time in the backfield came with Achane often lining up at wide receiver on third downs.
It will be interesting to see how big of a role Wright handles going forward, particularly when Mostert returns. It’s fine to have him on your fantasy roster, but it will probably take the Dolphins’ quarterback situation getting fixed before Wright has a chance at fantasy value.
Miscellaneous Notes
• The Titans continued their usual tight end rotation. Chig Okonkwo rarely played in 12 personnel and took most snaps in 11 personnel, with Josh Whyle also mixing in. Okonkwo has yet to gain more than 16 yards in a game this season.
• The Dolphins also continued their tight end rotation of Jonnu Smith playing in 11 personnel and Julian Hill and Durham Smythe playing in 12 personnel, as well as one of the two blockers playing in 21 personnel when Alec Ingold is on the field. Smith had the one good game with six receptions for 53 yards, but he has caught only three passes for 25 yards in the other three games combined.
• Dolphins sixth-round rookie wide receiver Malik Washington was inactive the first three weeks but was active for this game.
Seattle Seahawks @ Detroit Lions
- Kenneth Walker III: 12 carries, 80 yards, 3 touchdowns, 3 receptions, 23 receiving yards
- Jahmyr Gibbs: 14 carries, 78 yards, 2 touchdowns
Kenneth Walker III returns in a big way: Walker missed the past two weeks with an oblique injury but returned and enjoyed a three-touchdown performance.
During Walker’s absence, Zach Charbonnet was a feature running back, playing 121 of a possible 134 snaps in two games. Only Saquon Barkley recorded more offensive snaps at running back over the span. Charbonnet has typically been the Seahawks’ receiving back, but he looked good as a runner in those weeks, with 129 yards on 32 carries and three touchdowns, making it seem like this could be more of a committee.
Despite Charbonnet’s strong play and Walker potentially not being 100%, the running back roles were similar to Week 1. Walker played a higher percentage of early-down snaps than in Week 1, but Charbonnet took some goal-line and two-minute-drill snaps. In Week 1, Walker handled all of those plays. Charbonnet didn’t receive his first carry until the fourth quarter.
Walker can safely be put in fantasy starting lineups, regardless of the opponent. The Lions were the second-best team at preventing fantasy points to running backs last season, and had been the best so far this season, so Walker’s strong play was remarkable. Charbonnet can remain on fantasy rosters — but only as a handcuff to Walker.
Noah Fant’s role declines: Despite Seattle’s offseason changes at head coach and offensive coordinator, Fant finds himself in another rotation at tight end.
For the past few years, Fant couldn’t be depended on in fantasy because the Seahawks had Colby Parkinson and Will Dissly, leading to a heavy rotation at the position. In the first two weeks of 2024, Fant had a much better role, playing 76% of snaps in 11 personnel and 84% of snaps in 12 personnel.
Everything changed last week when veteran Pharaoh Brown returned from an injury. Fant played only half of the 11-personnel snaps, while rookie A.J. Barner and Brown were the primary tight ends in 12 personnel. This week was similar to last, except Fant’s snaps rates in 11 personnel and 12 personnel were slightly higher. This still left a high percentage of pass plays where he wasn’t on the field.
Fant caught two passes for 26 yards, making it his third game of the season where he was held to 26 or fewer yards. While several fantasy managers might be looking for a tight end, particularly with bye weeks hitting, Fant is probably not the solution.
Sam LaPorta takes a positive step: LaPorta had his best game of the season despite being questionable with an ankle injury.
LaPorta hadn’t lived up to his draft stock in the first three weeks, never surpassing four catches and 53 yards in each of the first three weeks. LaPorta wasn’t able to finish last week’s game due to the injury. He didn’t practice Thursday but was a full participant Friday and Saturday, making it clear he would play.
LaPorta was in his usual role, playing the clear majority of snaps. He took steps in the right direction last week with 2.25 yards per route run, and he kept that up this week with a much higher target rate and more yards per route. The Lions threw the ball only 19 times, so the fact that LaPorta had four receptions with such little passing volume was a positive. LaPorta can safely remain in fantasy starting lineups, and he should still be considered a top-five option at the position.
Miscellaneous Notes
• Seahawks fourth wide receiver Jake Bobo ran more pass routes in this game than in any of the three previous weeks. This led to his best receiving game of the season (three receptions for 30 yards).
• The Lions started the game using David Montgomery a lot more in the first quarter than in the previous two weeks. He ran the ball eight times in the quarter, while Jahmyr Gibbs played only four snaps. Gibbs caught up in both playing time and opportunities over the rest of the game.
• The Lions have their bye next week, so be prepared to have short-term replacements for their skill players.
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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