AFC IDP Snap Counts: Week Two

Tom Kislingbury

Hopefully you cleaned up last week. There were a number of really good pickups that should have rounded out your IDP roster for the season. There are always opportunities though. Here we look at what changed this week in the AFC.

READ: NFC IDP Snap Counts: Week Two

Baltimore Ravens

Slot corner Tavon Young is out for the season which shook up the secondary. Marlon Humphrey (59) played mostly in the slot. Jimmy Smith (50) came in to play a much bigger role on the outside.

Patrick Queen (42) remains the top LB, but he’s played only 96 snaps of 132 so far. His scoring has been good, but it’ll be tough to keep that up unless he plays more. For context, the Ravens have played 22 snaps in two games with no orthodox inside LB on the field – by far the most in the NFL.

Buffalo Bills

Both starting Bills LBs (Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano) were out so AJ Klein (72) and Tyrel Dodson (74) stepped in. Both will be instantly dropped when the starters return.

Rookie DE AJ Epenesa (19) made his debut. He enters what looks like a deep rotation. It’s hard to feel confident starting any of them right now.

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals played just 58 snaps this week. Even so, seeing Carlos Dunlap play just 30 snaps behind Sam Hubbard (43) and Carl Lawson (33) is odd.

Josh Bynes (50) and Germaine Pratt (43) lead the way at LB, but they are rolling out a third-down package with Akeem Davis-Gaither (19) and Logan Wilson (14) instead. This obviously hurts the starters.

Cleveland Browns

The Browns played 92 defensive snaps this week – bear that in mind when looking at production.

With Olivier Vernon out, Porter Gustin (63) emerged as the DE across from Myles Garrett (84).

LB Sione Takitaki (41) appeared to be benched halfway through the game for Malcolm Smith (56) with BJ Goodson (92) the top LB. This is a rough group.

Denver Broncos

The edge rusher situation was slightly more even this week with Malik Reed (31) closer to Jeremiah Attaochu (40). Bradley Chubb (56) leads in playing time but needs to play better.

Houston Texans

There were no major changes week on week for one of the league’s least interesting defenses. Whitney Mercilus (50) played a bit less on the edge with Brennan Scarlett (41) playing a bit more. Neither are very good.

Lineman Charles Omenihu (29) had a sack but lost 15 snaps compared to last week. Let someone else pick him up.

Indianapolis Colts

The Colts have played just 104 snaps in two games, which partially explains general low productivity (bar some notable exceptions).

Anthony Walker (30) was out-snapped by Bobby Okereke (46) this week. Could that be a significant shift? Okereke has a lot of fans in the IDP world but let’s wait and see another week first. Either way, there’s still likely only one full-time LB job, which of course belongs to Darius Leonard (54).

Safety Malik Hooker (20) tore his Achilles. Julian Blackmon (34) came in for him.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Rookie DE K’Lavon Chaisson (18) played firmly behind Adam Gotsis (41) as well as top dog Josh Allen (44) – and even Dawuane Smoot (25). Chaisson did manage his first sack but resist the urge to start him for now.

Safety Jarrod Wilson missed the game, opening the door for Andrew Wingard (62) to play.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs played a very high 83 defensive snaps this week.

Amazingly Chris Jones (75) only missed a handful of those. Early in his career, his second-half conditioning was a problem. That seems to be in the past now.

Corners Antonio Hamilton and Charvarius Ward both missed this game so Tyrann Mathieu (83) played a more orthodox slot DB role. Rashad Fenton and L’Jarius Snead (both 82) played outside.

There is still no every-down LB on this defense. Anthony Hitchens (65) and Damien Wilson (56) both had productive days but are not playing enough to trust. Ben Niemann (46) only played around half the snaps. Willie Gay (6) is not ready yet.

On the edge Frank Clark (36) seemed to get banged up with Tanoh Kpassagnon (78) leading the way. He has excellent initials. Michael Danna (40) remains the number three.

Las Vegas Raiders

The Raiders’ biggest change this week was LB Nick Kwiatkoski missing the game. Nicholas Morrow (60) stepped in to replace him as he did in week one.

The DE situation continues to be a rotation with Maxx Crosby (45), Clelin Ferrell (38), Arden Key (34) and Carl Nassib (15) all receiving snaps.

Los Angeles Chargers

Gus Bradley and linebackers eh?

Last week Drue Tranquill started but got hurt. He missed this game. In his absence, Nick Vigil played over 50 snap. Vigil only played special teams this week, while Kyzir White (77) came in to start after playing just seven snaps in week one.

Kenneth Murray (64) seems guaranteed a job – but trust coach Bradley at your peril.

Defensive tackle Jerry Tillery (54) had by the far the best game of his career. He’d never hit 50 snaps in a game before and he generated five pressures off the back. Let’s see if he can build on this next week.

At safety Nasir Adderley (76) also had a big game. He played just ten snaps as a rookie in 2019 and 27 in week one of 2020. He wasn’t very good – but it was progress at least.

Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins defense got eviscerated by the Bills. They really don’t look much better than they did in 2019 at the moment. This defense is intriguing with their rotation of personnel but for IDP purposes, it just makes a lot of players not quite startable.

LB Elandon Roberts did not dress this week after playing 40 snaps in week one. Jerome Baker (57) is the only inside LB with a major role on this team.

Kyle Van Noy (58) is the top edge player but struggling away from New England. He missed three tackles on Sunday – he missed six in the whole of 2019.

Star corner Byron Jones played just four snaps this week. Nik Needham (54) had to step in and play in the slot with Noah Igbinoghene (57) and Xavien Howard (60) outside.

New England Patriots

Similar to the Dolphins there are only a handful of every-down Patriots on defense.

Corner Stephon Gilmore (62), linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley (63) and safety Devin McCourty (63) are the backbones. Edge John Simon (56) and DB Jonathan Jones (59) are close. The rest of the defense rotates in and out with the Patriots using just about the least orthodox defensive personnel packages in the NFL.

Edge Shilique Calhoun (17) played sparingly this week with Brandon Copeland (30) playing more.

Safety Terrence Brooks (6) lost playing time to rookie Kyle Dugger (34).

New York Jets

Good news first: Second-year lineman Quinnen Williams (40) had the best game of his career and managed two sacks. This is great news after his awful rookie season.

Marcus Maye (60) continued in his new strong safety role. Amazingly, he’s the best player on this defense.

Bad news next: Pretty much everyone else is bad. There is no edge defender you should be starting.

Avery Williamson (17) made his return from injury, but we’ll need to see much more from him. Neville Hewitt (58) should not be the top LB on any team. Alec Ogletree (34) should retire immediately.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers might be the top pass-rushing team in the NFL this season. They are relentless.

Lineman Tyson Alualu (33) had a big sack this week but he’s not really playing enough to start confidently.

Edges TJ Watt (66) and Bud Dupree (68) both got to the QB too. Watt is a stud; Dupree is not very good but is still a productive IDP.

Minkah Fitzpatrick (77) is playing the deep safety role he owned last year. Without the interceptions and big plays, he’s just that productive in terms of fantasy points. He was being laughably overvalued all off-season.

Tennessee Titans

LB Rashaan Evans (63) managed to not get ejected from the game this week. He played next to Jayon Brown (75) with Will Compton not featuring.

Safety Kenny Vaccaro (75) played every snap and had a monster game. Don’t expect that every week.

Edge Jadeveon Clowney (62) generated six pressures without managing a sack. The entire Panthers defense managed five pressures this week. Clowney isn’t playing like a superstar but his sacks are coming.

tom kislingbury