IDP Snap Counts: Week Six
There are injuries everywhere. Disasters for all teams. The NFL is in chaos. Just how we IDP fiends like it.
Arizona Cardinals
Defensive end Markus Golden made it back on the field this week with 38 snaps. Benson Mayowa played 33 so these two are in a timeshare for now. It seems fair. Golden has struggled to stay fit and is a bit lightweight while Mayowa has played well.
Robert Nkemdiche came back at tackle with 49 snaps. He’s not a bad play in DT-premium leagues at all.
The three safeties continue to play every snap and given the Cardinals are the highest-volume defensive team in the league. Antoine Bethea leads all defenders in snaps with 458. In second place are Budda Baker and Patrick Peterson with 454 each. Josh Bynes is a few spots after with 450. Tre Boston is ninth on 450. Half of the top ten volume players in the NFL are Cardinals.
Atlanta Falcons
Jordan Richards (65) played strong safety for the second week in a row with Damontae Kazee playing deep (66). Kazee has been more productive so far but I want Richards due to positional advantage and tackle opportunity.
Notably, Foyesade Oluokon out-snapped Duke Riley at LB this week 40 to 28. Oloukon continues his streak of upping his playing time every single week of his career.
Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens played just 44 defensive snaps as the demolished the Titans. That’s the joint lowest of any team all season. It also means that the sheer number of sacks they managed was even more impressive. Za’Darius Smith managed three of them from just 21 snaps. He leads all OLBs in total playing and has been the best pass rusher even though Terrell Suggs and Matt Judon aren’t far behind.
LBs Patrick Onwuasor (16) and Kenny Young (15) continue to tussle for playing time. Neither are good options right now.
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Buffalo Bills
DE Shaq Lawson managed a sack this week and has been a waiver target. He played just 20 snaps (only 99 in 2018 so far) and isn’t very good. Let your league-mates have him. Jerry Hughes (39) is the lead dog in the unit with Trent Murphy (32) second.
Micah Hyde returned at safety to play all 61 snaps. He’s still primarily a deeper option. Rafael Bush also returned but played just 21 snaps. That’s been his normal volume all year long. He’s one to ignore.
Carolina Panthers
The news no one wanted to hear: Thomas Davis played 62 snaps on his return from suspension (of 70) whilst Shaq Thompson managed just 37. Davis seems to be the option to own here. Before the season, we talked about there being a five-week window to sell Thompson. I hope you did it.
Chicago Bears
A slight oddity: for the past three Bears games, Bryce Callahan has out-snapped Prince Amukamara. Callahan still plays in the slot in three-WR sets but is playing outside in base now. Plenty of IDP owners still think Amukamara is a great option based on name recognition. Don’t be one of them.
DE Akiem Hicks proved he is fully healthy (and still a monster) by playing 64 snaps after taking a bump in his previous game.
Cincinnati Bengals
A week after returning from suspension, Vontaze Burfict (61) led all LBs in playing time and production. Preston Brown (45), Vincent Rey (47), Jordan Evans (23) and Nick Vigil (13) just aren’t close to the player Burfict is – even with the late hits.
The edge situation is now a full-blown rotation with five players getting playing time every week. Carlos Dunlap (50) is still the number one option but Carl Lawson (22), Sam Hubbard (26), Michael Johnson (45) and Jordan Willis (27) are all playing too.
Cleveland Browns
LB Joe Schobert was hurt in this game and will seemingly miss some time. James Burgess was also injured and has gone to IR. In their absence, expect Jamie Collins (54) to play every down next to Christian Kirksey (59) with Genard Avery (23) forced to play more too. Avery has played mostly on the edge so far but might have to show his versatility.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys played 46 defensive snaps this week compared to 80 last week so many people were surprised to see drops in production.
The only significant change in personnel was Chidobe Awuzie missing the week entirely with Jourdan Lewis playing again in the slot.
Denver Broncos
There were no big changes for the Broncos either. Tramaine Brock returned at third CB to play 57 snaps. Brandon Marshall played a season-high 62 snaps at LB. Will parks (13) continues to be underutilized at safety.
Detroit Lions
No activity due to the bye week.
Green Bay Packers
Kevin King (57) is now back to being the top corner on the team. He’s an excellent IDP option.
Rookie Oren Burks continues to play more each week but stalled on 28 this week. The Packers are using Jermaine Whitehead (28) in a similar role.
Houston Texans
Did you know the Texans have the most expensive defense (in terms of 2018 cap hit) in the NFL? They don’t play like it, do they?
Kareem Jackson (61) continues to play emergency corner. Texans fans will cry “injuries” but really it was a paper-thin roster at the position in the first place. Going into the season with Johnathan Joseph (58) and Kevin Johnson as starters was never likely to end well.
Indianapolis Colts
Great news for the Colts – after last week’s horror show, they managed to recover some real-life starting corners. Kind of.
Kenny Moore (70) and Nate Hairston (71) aren’t superstars but they’re a lot better than Arthur Maulet and Lenzy Pipkins were. Quincy Wilson also played 11 snaps – his first game action since getting hurt in week two.
Crucially, LB Darius Leonard also returned to the team with 71 snaps. Anthony Walker also managed 60.
At safety, Clayton Geathers and Matthias Farley, both missed the game as expected. Mike Mitchell was scraped up to play 54 snaps across from Malik Hooker (71).
Jacksonville Jaguars
Someone in Jacksonville has a lucky rabbit’s foot. After going through 2017 virtually unscathed, the Jags have only suffered one defensive injury in 2018 so far. And frankly, the team might be best off without D.J. Hayden in the slot anyway. It is incredible how consistent they manage to remain on defense – in terms of personnel at least. Obviously, they got absolutely walloped by the Cowboys on the field.
Kansas City Chiefs
With Eric Murray out injured, Jordan Lucas again filled in at safety next to Ron Parker. They both played all 78 snaps.
The Chiefs made two unusual decisions this week at linebacker.
Firstly, Breeland Speaks (all 300 lbs of him) played 76 snaps at OLB. Using him as a part-time change-of-pace I get, but this was odd. I’m shocked he wasn’t targeted more in coverage (he dropped 41 times).
Secondly, In a pass-heavy game, they used Reggie Ragland (49) much more than Terrance Smith (eight). Maybe Smith was hurt, although I didn’t see that. Ragland is atrocious in coverage although amazingly, he was not targeted in this game.
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers continue to confound at linebacker. Denzel Perryman played 49 snaps which is his average for the season. ‘Safety’ Adrian Phillips came in to play 65 snaps though. Remember he played LB for the tail-end of last season. If Kyzir White and Jatavis Brown miss much more time, Phillips is a potential cheat-code.
Los Angeles Rams
Corner Aqib Talib missed his third straight game with Sam Shields (26) and Troy Hill (40) continuing to fill in for him.
Mark Barron played just 40 (of 66) snaps at LB with Cory Littleton playing all 66, Justin Lawler playing 12 and Marqui Christian on 26 in his hybrid safety/LB role.
Miami Dolphins
Andre Branch returned at DE this week to offer some relief. Unfortunately, Charles Harris missed the game so Jonathan Woodard (12) and Cameron Malveaux (32) were again forced to play. The Dolphins have used seven DEs this season and Quinn is the only one yet to miss a game.
At LB, Raekwon McMillan (39) and Jerome Baker (44) continue to fight for playing time. Neither is an easy start right now, but they could easily both be full-time players in 2019.
Minnesota Vikings
Rookie corner Mike Hughes (12) has been placed on IR. Hopefully, that will bring some clarity to the team. Xavier Rhodes (56), Trae Waynes (56) and Mackensie Alexander (33) should be the trio going forward.
Andrew Sendejo missed the game at safety through injury. In his absence, George Iloka (43) played his first real game for the team with Anthony Harris (15) and Jayron Kearse (five) playing minor roles.
New England Patriots
Eric Rowe returned from injury to play 17 snaps at corner. Jason McCourty and Stephon Gilmore (54 each) continue to be the only every-down corners.
Malcom Brown missed the game at tackle. His snaps were just covered by Danny Shelton (33), Lawrence Guy (31) and Adam Butler (21).
New Orleans Saints
No activity due to the bye week.
New York Jets
Marcus Maye took a knock in this game and only managed 43 snaps. His replacement was interesting given it was Terrence Brooks (29) and not Doug Middleton who had started the season at free safety. Middleton did play special teams so he was dressed.
New York Giants
Giants LBs are so annoying. This week Ray-Ray Armstrong played just two defensive snaps with B.J. Goodson managing 38. Armstrong had out-snapped Goodson the previous three weeks. Don’t start either of them.
On the edge, Olivier Vernon finally played his first game of the season. He saw 54 snaps with no other OLB higher than 27.
Oakland Raiders
The Raiders flew in on Friday for a Sunday game apparently utterly unaware of jet lag. Hopefully, it was jet lag that caused their terrible performance. Otherwise, it was just the fact they’re really not very good.
CB Gareon Conley played three special teams snaps and not at all on defense. Rashaan Melvin saw just seven snaps. But Leon Hall (54) and Daryl Worley (62) played most of the game. They were targeted relentlessly on short, outside screens and piled up tackles as a result.
Derrick Johnson also played 17 snaps. He was cut after the game and that will likely be his last game in the NFL – a sad end after a great career. Marquel Lee (49) and Tahir Whitehead (64) are firmly the starters but are both bad players.
Philadelphia Eagles
Derek Barnett returned after a one-game absence to play 31 snaps at DE. Josh Sweat (seven) kept his minor role so this now is a five-way rotation. This is becoming increasingly common.
CB Sidney Jones took a knock in this game and played just eight snaps. Rasul Douglas (42) stepped into his role.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Vince Williams played 59 snaps after missing week five. Opposite him, Jon Bostic (33) played only about half the snaps. Various DBs spent a few snaps lined up in the box. The team needs Morgan Burnett back.
Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks had this pretty easy given how bad the Raiders were and they rotated a fair amount – particularly on the line. Frank Clark did his damage from just 29 snaps.
Bobby Wagner played all 60 snaps at LB and next to him again was Barkevious Mingo (56) with Austin Calitro (14) playing limited snaps.
San Francisco 49ers
Second-year corner Ahkello Witherspoon missed this game. He’s being covered by D.J. Reed (21), Greg Mabin (14) and K’Waun Williams (34).
At DE, Solomon Thomas played just 26 snaps with Cassius Marsh well ahead on 43. Thomas continues to look like a bust.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jordan Whitehead played 67 snaps at safety with Chris Conte and Isaiah Johnson out. He’s an interesting option.
Beau Allen returned from two games out to play 42 snaps at tackle. This is notable because rookie Vita Vea played just 28. The wisdom of taking a nose tackle at 12th overall seems stretched these days.
Carlton Davis missed the game at corner. With him out, Ryan Smith (59) and Brent Grimes (67) were the primary options. M.J. Stewart played 38 snaps.
Tennessee Titans
The Titans played 75 defensive snaps this week as they could not get the Ravens off the field. As a result, a lot of their players had inflated volume.
Jayon Brown (75), in particular, has now played 217 snaps in the past three weeks. People are falling over themselves to say how good he’s been but really he’s just been on the field a lot.
Rookie LB Rashaan Evans only managed 58 snaps this week. Daren Bates played 17. It seems the team does not trust Evans yet to be a full-time option.
Washington Redskins
Washington has managed to stay enormously consistent this season on defense. They’ve suffered no noteworthy injuries and have basically used the same personnel and roles each week. Mason Foster continues to be the LB to own. Their linemen continue to be underwhelming statistically and should be avoided.
Good luck everyone!
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