IDP Snap Counts: Week 14
Hi everyone. I presume everyone still reading is still involved in their league playoffs. If not, then I thank you for your time but you could probably do with a rest.
Most teams in the NFL are using more rookies and fringe players at this stage of the season. That doesn’t mean that anyone who has a big game is going to be a starter in 2018. In all honesty I don’t think it’s a great time to go shopping for IDP stashes right now. It’s too easy to get hooked up emotionally because we all want the player in question to become viable.
With that said – on to the roundup.
Arizona Cardinals
LB Deone Bucannon returned from injury to play 58 snaps. He didn’t have a productive day but I’m happy to start him next week. If he’s on the field it’s good enough for me. Josh Bynes played just 11 snaps correspondingly. He’s droppable again.
Atlanta Falcons
Both Brian Poole and Desmond Trufant returned at CB to play 27 and 52 snaps respectively. Blidi Wreh-Wilson and Damontee Kazee made way for them.
[am4show have=’g1;’ guest_error=’sub_message’ user_error=’sub_message’ ]
Baltimore Ravens
There was huge volume for a lot of Ravens this week as they played 89 defensive snaps. As always don’t get too excited by a big volume week like this.
Marlon Humphrey played just about the full game at corner. He saw 88 snaps which means that 22% of his entire NFL playing career was in this game.
Za’Darius Smith missed out at OLB which meant that Tim Williams and Tyus Bowser both played over 20 snaps for the first time since week two.
Buffalo Bills
This was another weird game of course, in the driving snow. I normally expect low volume games in snow given the reliance on running the ball but the Bills actually played 71 defensive snaps.
Ramon Humber played only 20 snaps due to injury (or perhaps he just didn’t fancy the cold) with Matt Milano playing 51. Milano is one of the players I’m trying to grab everywhere I can.
Shaq Lawson missed the game (and will miss the season) at DE. In his absence Eddie Yarborough again received the Lion’s share of playing time with 43 snaps. He had a sack too which was impressive in the snow.
Carolina Panthers
Shaq Thompson missed the game at LB with injury. Because of the Vikings gameplan (which heavily utilised three WR sets) no other LB really stepped up in volume. David Mayo only played three defensive snaps.
At corner Captain Munnerlyn played 58 snaps. That was comfortably his biggest week of the year given he hadn’t played 35 snaps until this game. Which makes it very odd that he stormed out of the building this week – apparently as a result of being told he would not be heavily featured this week coming.
Chicago Bears
For the second game in a row Chris Prosinski played safety in front of Eddie Jackson. Prosinski saw 49 snaps with Deon Bush playing 4. Jackson played 54. It’s been a surprisingly effective spot all year with Jackson being a naturally deep player.
At LB Christian Jones was benched this week playing just 10 snaps. Nick Kwiatkowski played 46. The undisputed top option is still Danny Trevathan (45 snaps).
Cincinnati Bengals
I thought it would be a really low volume week for the Bengals defense with both teams draining the clock. But actually it was the opposite as the Bears controlled the game and the Bengals played 76 defensive snaps.
With Vontaze Burfict and Nick Vigil both out Vincent Rey (70) and Jordan Evans both saw high volume with 70 and 68 snaps respectively.
Carlos Dunlap only played 44 snaps at DE so there’s a situation to watch carefully this week.
Cleveland Browns
Another heavy week for Browns’ LBs. Christian Kirskey (76), James Burgess (71) and Joe Schobert (76) all had big weeks. The Browns have now played 236 more inside LB snaps than any other team.
Jabrill Peppers missed out at safety and Kai Nacua played 75 snaps in his stead. Nacua played 63 of his 75 snaps lined up deep and is pretty unusable for IDP purposes.
Dallas Cowboys
Sean Lee made his triumphant return to the team this week at LB with 66 snaps. He and Anthony Hitchens (59) both had fantastically productive days.
Byron Jones took a bump at safety which meant Xavier Woods (63) and Jeff Heath (77) both played heavy workloads.
Denver Broncos
Justin Simmons was hurt at safety which meant he only played three snaps. Will Parks stepped up with 41 alongside deep man Darian Stewart (50).
Cornerback Aqib Talib returned after his suspension to 50 snaps which meant Bradley Roby returned to his part-time rile with just 35 snaps.
Detroit Lions
The only significant change was in the secondary. Miles Killebrew played just three snaps with the Lions starting Glover Quin in the (more) strong safety spot and Quandre Diggs as the (more) free safety. Diggs was extremely productive and given he’s CB-eligible remains an excellent option in CB-required leagues.
Green Bay Packers
OLB Nick Perry was hurt and missed the game. In his stead Vince Biegel played 15 snaps but mainly Clay Matthews (49) and Kyler Fackrell (30) took up the slack.
Houston Texans
LB Brian Cushing returned to the team with 39 snaps. Zach Cunningham (73) and Benardrick McKinney (66) were way ahead but’s absolutely possible Cushing plays more this week. I think Cunningham is a very risky start in fantasy semifinals.
Indianapolis Colts
The Colts have been ravaged at corner. Their starting pair right now are Kenny Moore (62) and Quincy Wilson (67). Neither of those had played more than 100 snaps on the season before week 12. It’s a huge weakness on a team that was already circling the drain.
Matthias Farley is one of the few Colts I trust. It seems clear that Clayton Geathers (17) is not starting anytime soon.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Telvin Smith again missed out with Paul Posluszny rolling back the years to play 62 snaps alongside Myles Jack. The Jags have been a great defense obviously but their consistency has gone a little unnoticed. They’ve had remarkably few injuries.
Kansas City Chiefs
Tamba Hali returned this week at OLB to play 30 snaps. He’s a role player at this stage. Frank Zombo “Apocalypse” played just 23 snaps but came up with a nice sack. Justin Houston managed 53 snaps.
Los Angeles Chargers
Adrian Phillips (43) remains the Chargers de facto second LB alongside Denzel Perryman (39). Jatavis Brown (five), Hayes Pullard (seven) and Kyle Emmanuel (seven) are bit players. I’m not an advocate of buying IPDs at this time of year but Phillips is one for me. The upside of a full season in Telvin Smith’s role is just so tantalising.
Los Angeles Rams
The Rams managed 91 defensive snaps last week. I had to change the width of a column in excel to accommodate it. As always with games like this, don’t read too much into big games.
LaMarcus Joyner led the team with 90 snaps. He had a good day on the stat sheet but obviously the sheer volume had an effect on that. Aaron Donald also played 81 snaps. That’s superhuman for a man of his size.
Miami Dolphins
Ndamokung Suh played 60 of 61 snaps this week. His 716 snaps for the season are more than any other DT not named Deforest Buckner. That’s what $19m buys you at tackle I guess. He counts $26m against the cap in 2018. Ridiculous.
Minnesota Vikings
Anthony Barr failed to record a single so tackle this week. But not for lack of volume – he played all 64 snaps. It was just a bad week for him.
New England Patriots
Eric Lee appears to have impressed the coaches. He saw 73 snaps against the Dolphins this week compared to just 16 for Deatrich Wise. Lee is a LB on MFL but make no mistake – he’s an edge player.
Malcom Brown played 64 snaps and appears fully healthy. He’s a good buy-low target for me right now.
New Orleans Saints
AJ Klein played just seven snaps after his surprisingly productive week 13 game. No doubt he burnt a lot of people but really you should know better than to trust him by this stage. Manti Te’o played 57 snaps in his place.
Marcus Williams returned at safety to play 71 snaps. Kenny Vaccarro lost out as a result and saw just 29 snaps. Vaccaro seems like he’s on his way out of NOLA.
New York Jets
The Jets are the only team up with the Jaguars in terms of consistency defensively this season. They’ve had very little turnover indeed. Darron Lee returned from injury this week to play 70 snaps.
New York Giants
Another week another Giants LB rotation. This week Kelvin Sheppard led the way with 63 snaps. That’s an almost-unheard of three solid weeks in a row for Sheppard! But he’s still only played 209 snaps for the season. Six separate Giants LBs have played at least 200 snaps now. None of them have managed 500.
Oakland Raiders
Obi Melifonwu has a grand total of one defensive snap in the last three games combined. He’s a special-teamer at the moment. How disappointing.
Across the same period, Nicholas Morrow has played 165 snaps. It’s all about the opportunity.
Philadelphia Eagles
It was a really low-volume week (48) for the Eagles this week so don’t be disheartened. Unless you’re a fan of the team. In which case you’ve probably been crying for four straight days. I can’t help you I’m afraid.
Pittsburgh Steelers
I’m sure you know by now that Ryan Shazier is out for the season. Hopefully his spine is okay and he fully heals up. In his absence Vince Williams played most of the game (53 snaps) with Sean Spence coming in to line up for 34 plays. Arthur Moats of all people stepped up to play about 15 snaps as an inside linebacker.
I find it noteworthy that Tyler Matakevich did not play at all in this game. He’s shown himself inadequate to be an NFL starter.
At safety Mike Mitchell returned from injury to play 63 snaps. He’s missed two of the last five games though.
Seattle Seahawks
It was a very odd day at LB for the Seahawks. Bobby Wagner (31) and KJ Wright (37) were limited on the day with DJ Alexander (19) and Michael Wilhoite (47) having to play significant snaps.
Needless to say Wright and Wagner owners need to watch updates on their training and fitness very closely this week. And have a backup ready just in case.
San Francisco 49ers
After midseason issues Solomon Thomas (44) and DeForest Buckner (53) are back to full fitness and in place again. Feel free to start them.
At safety Eric Reid was pretty ineffective last week but did play 67 snaps. It was just a bad variance week.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
DE Robert Ayers returned in this game after missing last week. He played 55 snaps and is clearly the top edge rusher. I wouldn’t recommend using him however, He has two sacks on the season from 556 snaps. As a comparison Michael Johnson has played 9 snaps less and has 5 sacks.
At safety Keith Tandy and TJ Ward were both out this week. As a result Chris Conte played a full game of 68 snaps. He’s a decent option over the next couple of weeks.
Tennessee Titans
The biggest weekly change for the Titans is DaQuan Jones missing out at DE. David King stepped in his stead. He only played 22 snaps and isn’t really an option going forward.
Washington Redskins
Zach Vigil played his biggest game at LB yet with 67 snaps. He’s playing full time at the moment. He’s worth a gamble in very deep leagues or in an emergency but I’m not hugely enthused.
I hope you have another great week and your IDP teams are dominating your leagues. Good luck everyone!
[/am4show]
- Ten IDP Fantasy Football Stats You Need to Know after Week 16 - December 29, 2023
- Ten IDP Fantasy Football Stats You Need to Know after Week 15 - December 22, 2023
- Ten IDP Fantasy Football Stats You Need to Know after Week 14 - December 14, 2023
