IDP Snap Counts: Week Eight
Hi everyone.
As always I’ve trawled through every last defensive snap so you don’t have to. This is the breakdown of movers and shakers and what it means for your IDP teams.
Arizona Cardinals
Bye
Atlanta Falcons
Duke Riley was out through injury, but Kemal Ishmael only saw 4 snaps. Against the Jets the Falcons ran a more conservative defense and played a combined 143 snaps fewer than the week before. The only player to really add significant snaps week on week was DT Ahtbya Rubin who played his first 21 snaps as a Falcon.
Baltimore Ravens
It’s now been over a month since Kamalei Correa saw significant playing time at LB. He’s droppable now I’m afraid. I was high on him in the summer.
On the D line Willie Henry stepped up to 35 snaps after his injury last week. He and Brandon Williams are the only two linemen playing a decent amount, but as I’ve said many times I don’t want to rely on any of them if I can help it.
Buffalo Bills
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This was a different week at LB for the Bills. Matt Milano played a career-high 52 snaps and was productive with it. He’s looked pretty good to me so far although Sean McDermott clearly knows how to put someone in a spot that’ll make them look good.
Lorenzo Alexander also had an interesting week. He only managed 36 snaps which is his lowest since week one. He’d been averaging 45 snaps per game in the intervening period. I don’t think this is a sign of things to come – just a gameplan thing.
At safety Jordan Poyer missed out this week through injury and Trae Elston stepped in with 64 snaps. That was the first time we’ve seen him this year.
Carolina Panthers
Predicting which Panthers LB will play full-time alongside Luke Kuechly is starting to be a real pain. This week it was Thomas Davis who played all 67 snaps whilst Shaq Thompson managed just 36. Kuechly was on the field every snap.
Almost all Panthers saw an uptick in volume this week after their extremely-low week seven. Mario Addison was probably the biggest beneficiary as he went from 18 to 46 snaps. He’s played the most of all panthers DEs all season and is the number one option for me.
Chicago Bears
Inside LB Christian Jones had a tough week with just 37 snaps. He played over 50 the last three weeks so this is a big drop but the Bears had a fairly low-snap week. Even with Nick Kwiatkowski back (he played one snap this week), I like Jones to keep hold of is job.
At corner Cre’von LeBlanc came back to play 33 snaps. He hadn’t been on the field since week two. His return was a result of Bryce Callahan (12) missing out. Kyle Fuller (60) and Prince Amukamara (54) remain the full-time players.
Cincinnati Bengals
Carlos Dunlap had a monster game at DE. He was even the AFC defensive player of the week. He’s firmly in my top five at the position. But it’s worth noting Dunlap had a huge workload with 67 snaps this week. Only two ends actually played more than that this week and it was Dunlap’s highest total of the season.
Similarly Geno Atkins played 57 snaps this week. That was second highest of all tackles in the NFL for week eight.
Cleveland Browns
Christian Kirksey, Jamie Collins and Joe Schobert all played over 80 snaps this week. That is not a typo. Over the season Kirksey is fourth and Schobert fifth amongst LBs for total snaps which makes them both elite options based on volume alone. Kirksey is fourth in total tackles amongst LBs and Schobert is second. Essentially they’re playing the same roles that meant Alec Ogletree and Mark Barron were stars for the 2016 Rams under Gregg Williams and it should continue. Kudos to anyone who snapped Joe Schobert up in preseason.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys played about the same total DE snaps in week eight as they did in week seven. But Demarcus Lawrence and Taco Charlton both played 15 fewer snaps this week with Benson Mayowa fit again. Don’t lose track of the fact that Rod Marinelli wants to have a rotation at the position. As great as Lawrence has been he’s unlikely to get a monster workload in many weeks.
At defensive back Xavier Woods played 37 snaps this week. He’s up to 166 for the season now. As a comparison Budda Baker has 32. Woods is playing corner much more than strong safety but given his versatility and Jeff Heath’s abject averageness Woods is a decent stash.
Denver Broncos
Bradley Roby played just 39 snaps at corner this week. In fact he’s only managed 272 for the season compared to 400 for Aqib Talib and 33 for Chris Harris. But Roby has been enormously productive. He’s right at the top for tackle efficiency as well as cover play efficiency for corners. 20 total tackles, eight PDs and an INT from that sort of volume is very impressive.
At LB Shane Ray made his season debut and played 51 snaps. Shaq Barrett played just 24 compared to the 47 he’s averaged so far.
Todd Davis did not see the field at LB this week, whereas Will parks played 44 snaps (his highest since week two). It might have been a gameplan specific decision but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Detroit Lions
The Lions DE rotation is amongst the most egalitarian in the league. Cornelius Washington (26), Anthony Zettel (50), Ziggy Ansah (47) all play a decent amount with Jeremiah Ledbetter (15) and Jeremiah Vaioaga (14) also getting scraps. Needless to say this is not a good group to select IDPs from. Specifically Ansah is not a good IDP. He has 4 sacks so far but has failed to record one in five of his seven games. He’s rated far too high based on name value and one good season in 2015.
Jarrad Davis and Tahir Whitehead remain the every-down LBs but it’s worth noting that Jalen Reeves-Maybin saw 22 snaps this week. That’s 47 combined in his last two games now.
Green Bay Packers
Bye
Houston Texans
Benardrick McKinney continues to play high snap counts. He had 68 this week and has averaged 60 for the season. Unfortunately he’s massively inefficient. In fact 98 other LBs have more total tackles per snap than McKinney. He has managed 44 total tackles from 422 snaps so far. To put that into context Zach Brown of the Redskins has 75 tackles in 447 snaps. Vincent Rey has also managed 44 tackles in Cincinnati but has done so from just 248 snaps.
I know you’ve heard it before from me but McKinney is nowhere near as good as people think he is. Sell your shares.
Indianapolis Colts
Cornerback is a pain in Indy. This week Pierre Desir (56) was the main man across from Vontae Davis (also 56). I’ll be avoiding this for the next couple of weeks until it settles down I think.
Henry Anderson had a sack for the second consecutive week and is looking food again. He played a solid 49 snaps this week and has averaged 48 over the last month. He’s the only Colts lineman I’d really consider at this stage.
At safety Darius Butler stepped up as we expected but he only played 33 snaps. Matthias Farley played all 56 snaps but bizarrely failed to record a single stat. I’m not scared off thought. He’s still perfectly startable next week.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Bye
Kansas City Chiefs
Terrance Mitchell (0 snaps) was replaced by Kenneth Acker this week. I recommend selling Mitchell for whatever you can get. It’s tough as he’s probably scored very well for you but he has no value going forwards. I took a seventh round pick for him. Acker is worth picking up.
Dee Ford took a knock at OLB and only managed 28 snaps. Frank Zombo stepped in for him and played 45 snaps.
Los Angeles Chargers
Hayes Pullard managed a season-high 66 snaps at LB this week with Jatavis Brown still only playing sparingly (22 snaps).
At safety Adrian Phillips saw 59 snaps. He’s managed 105 snaps in the last two games now and is playing very much in the box. He’s worth a pickup.
Joey Bosa (72) and Melvin Ingram (78) both saw very heavy workloads this week. No other DE played more snaps in week eight.
Los Angeles Rams
Bye
Miami Dolphins
Alan Branch missed this game at DE which meant Charles Harris played a career-high 49 snaps. The Dolphins have been playing both of those two on the right end with William Hayes (34) and Cam Wake (34) playing on the left. They very rarely swap sides.
Michael Thomas played 49 snaps at safety this week after Nate Allen got hurt. Allen has gone to IR now and should not be owned in any format. With TJ McDonald back imminently, this unit is in need of a shakeup.
Minnesota Vikings
Anthony Harris was fit again at safety and played 57 snaps. Andrew Sendejo missed out correspondingly. For some reason Jayron Kearse played two snaps. Mike Zimmer quite likes giving a random player one or two snaps in a given week. I have no idea why.
In all honesty the Browns were pathologically conservative in this game. I’m not sure we can glean much about the Vikings from this game.
New England Patriots
D’Onta Hightower will miss the rest of the season at LB so Elandon Roberts stepped in to play 40 snaps. He played very much in the middle rather than in Hightower’s edge role. Kyle Van Noy shifted over to play on the edge. It’s New England so things can always change but I’m selling Van Noy whilst I can during the Patriots bye.
New Orleans Saints
There were no real changes this week in a very settled showing. Craig Robertson continues to be the second LB next to AJ Klein. Vonn bell is playing decent volume recently at safety. Trey Hendrickson continues to chase David Onyemata down to be the number three DE.
New York Jets
With Buster Skrine out at corner, Robert Nelson came in to play 39 snaps. Honestly that was about it for the Jets this week. Leonard Williams and Muhammad Wilkerson actually played well at last. Does that count as an update?
New York Giants
Bye
Oakland Raiders
With Karl Joseph missing out at strong safety the unheralded Shalom Luani stepped in to play 68 snaps next to Reggie Nelson. Joseph should be back and Obi Melifonwu will be ready soon so Luani isn’t anyone to pick up.
At LB Cory James returned to fitness and managed 49 snaps. NaVorro Bowman played 69 snaps again and this situation just got a lot clearer. Bowman and James should both be viable going forwards.
Philadelphia Eagles
Jordan Hicks is hurt and will miss out for the foreseeable future. In his absence Nigel Bradham remains the top starter (although he has been inefficient so far this year). Mychal Kendricks came back to play 52 snaps this week across from him. Joe Walker came in on rushing downs for 29 snaps. Najee Goode played just one snap.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Most Steelers had a decent bump in volume this week after their week seven matchup was a very low-snap contest.
The only significant individual change was Mike Mitchell taking a knock at safety. When he was off the field Robert Golden came in to play 33 snaps. He’s not someone I have any interest in going forwards.
Seattle Seahawks
There were no significant changes for Seattle this week. The Seahawks praise continuity more than any other team and like to make as few changes as possible.
Shaq Griffen continues to play full-time cornerback opposite Richard Sherman. He’s played full time since week four when Jeremy Lane got hurt. Lane returned this week but played just six snaps. Griffen and Sherman both managed 71.
San Francisco 49ers
This team is such a mess. Adrian Colbert (55) and Ahkello Witherspoon (69) led the team in corner snaps. Before today they’d played 30 and 75 snaps total for the season. K’Waun Williams missed out entirely whilst Rashard Robinson played just 16 snaps. Leon Hall also made his debut and played 33 snaps.
Leger Douzable had a big game on the stat-sheet fuelled by his 57 snaps. In contrast Solomon Thomas managed just 32. I hate to recommend Douzable but he’s in a good spot to stay on the field currently.
At safety Jimmie Ward got hurt and only managed 15 snaps. Eric Reid played 33 snaps which were mostly in the box. Obviously seeing how he meshes with Jaquiski Tartt (70 snaps this week) going forwards will be fascinating.
At LB Brock Coyle led the team with 70 snaps. Eli Harold came next with 46 and Ray-Ray Armstrong played just 36. Reuben Foster missed the game through injury.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
With Noah Spence on IR following an enormously disappointing year Ryan Russell played 35 snaps at DE. Robert Ayers led the unit with 53 and is probably the best option although this Bucs team is horrendous for generating pressure. They’ve managed seven sacks in total so far. 23 other teams have at least double that. Ten teams have three times as many.
Tennessee Titans
Bye
Washington Redskins
With Mason Foster on IR, Martrell Spaight (38) and Will Compton (29) shared the LB spot opposite Zach Brown (68).
Josh Norman returned at corner this week with 68 snaps but Bashaud Breeland missed out. Quinton Dunbar (67) played full time ahead of Kendall Fuller (46).
I hope you have another great week and your IDP teams are dominating your leagues. Good luck everyone!
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