AFC IDP Snap Counts: Week 12
Next week is week 13 – the final week in the regular season for standard leagues. So, this week is your last chance to obtain some impact IDPs to make sure you win a playoff spot and maximize your chances.
No slacking now – this is our third down.
READ: NFC IDP Snap Counts: Week 12
Baltimore Ravens
Due to this game being postponed, it’s too late to include here.
Buffalo Bills – 83 snaps
The Bills played their most defensive snaps of the season this week, which explains the generally high production. In particular, the pass rush had a lot of joy against the Chargers’ O line.
The big personnel change was Levi Wallace playing 80 snaps at corner. He was last seen in week six. Emergency fill-in Dane Jackson was nowhere to be seen.
Linebacker AJ Klein (83) had another stellar game. That’s now five sacks, 22 solos, and five assists in his past three games. He’s never managed more than three sacks in a season before now. He’s a great play right now – but Matt Milano is going to take his job back. The question is whether Tremaine Edmunds (83) deserves to be starting.
Cincinnati Bengals – 81 snaps
The rookie LBs playing on passing downs has been a feature of this defense all season. It’s settled down a bit. Logan Wilson (45) has played 30 or more snaps in six of his past seven games. This week was his highest snap load of the season. Meanwhile, Akeem Davis-Gaither played merely seven snaps and has hot 30+ only once all season (back in week five).
Unless something weird happens, Wilson is the guy with more potential – regardless of what people thought of them pre-draft.
Cleveland Browns – 65 snaps
Olivier Vernon (63) continues to be the top pass rusher with Myles Garrett out. He had five pressures this week – albeit zero sacks. The other main edge was Adrian Clayborn (56) which just shows you Vernon will continue to play every snap he can.
Corner Denzel Ward missed this game which meant Kevin Johnson (59) played with Terrance Mitchell (65). MJ Stewart (30) and Tavierre Thomas (25) rounded out the unit.
Safety has been a revolving door all season. Andrew Sendejo (65) has one job locked down. He’s played 732 snaps. This week Karl Joseph (64) had the other one with Ronnie Harrison (1) injuring his shoulder on the first play of the game.
Denver Broncos – 64 snaps
Although the Broncos offense played just 43 snaps due to not having a real QB, note that the defense still played a normal 64. Many assumptions about what actually drives defensive volume are plain wrong.
As seems to be the case every week the Broncos defense is very stable with few weekly fluctuations.
Big lineman Demarcus Walker (43) managed two sacks. He’s got three in his past two games now and will be a waiver target. He has averaged just 35 snaps in his past six games though – and that’s when he won a bigger role.
Corner Essang Bassey (26) had an interception – but he’s a part-time player.
Houston Texans – 82 snaps
Doesn’t Thanksgiving feel like a long time ago?
LB Tyrell Adams (71) had an absurdly productive day against the Lions. The last time Zach Cunningham (47) out-snapped Adams was back in week six.
JJ Watt (74) managed to snag an interception which saved his day. It’s sad to say after such a great career – but Watt just isn’t who he used to be anymore. He has already rushed the passer more times than he did in 2019 – and he has less than half the pressures.
Indianapolis Colts – 72 snaps
Star tackle DeForest Buckner missed this game. Grover Stewart (54) and Taylor Stallworth (53) sucked up his snaps. That was the most either had played all season by a clear distance. The Colts generated just seven pressures in total though – Buckner was missed.
LB Bobby Okereke also missed the game. He’s been playing poorly and is one of the most-targeted LBs in the NFL, so it was no huge loss. Anthony Walker (72) played every snap next to Darius Leonard (also 72) with Zaire Franklin (32) stepping up as the third man.
Jacksonville Jaguars – 67 snaps
Tre Herndon (65) has held one corner job down all year, but the other has been a mess. CJ Henderson, Sidney Jones, Chris Claybrooks, and DJ Hayden all missed this game. Luq Barcoo (65) and Josiah Scott (24) saw the field instead. That was never a winning proposition and the Browns still labored to win the game.
The edge position remains a wasteland. Josh Allen missed this game leaving Adam Gotsis (50), Dawuane Smoot (36), Kamalei Correa (31) and Cassius Marsh (29) to all play more than first-round rookie K’Lavon Chaisson (22).
At DT, Doug Costin (43) really has taken Taven Bryan’s (23) starting job. Bryan has the name value because of his first-round pedigree – but Costin is a target for deep leagues.
Safety has been a mess all season – but Andrew Wingard (67) seems the most likely to have won a job moving forward. He’s played well. Check out his flowing locks next time you watch the Jags. Jarrod Wilson (44) and Brandon Watson are not really potential starters for you.
Kansas City Chiefs – 59 snaps
All season long, this column has been talking about potential for the depth DEs to rack up points. This week Alex Okafor (24) and Michael Danna (16) both had a sack while Frank Clark (47) and Tanoh Kpassagnon (30) did not. It happens.
Linebacker is still a wilderness on this team. Skip them.
Juan Thornhill (41) played a bit more at safety but it’s clear he’s still behind the others as the third option. You should not be starting him right now. Daniel Sorensen (59) and Tyrann Mathieu (55) are the only options.
Las Vegas Raiders – 78 snaps
This game saw the return of Cory Littleton (45) at LB. Although Nicholas Morrow (77) and Nick Kwiatkoski (61) were both still clearly ahead of him. They’re all risky starts in the crucial week 13.
DE Clelin Ferrell was not deemed fit enough to play after his COVID bout. So Carl Nassib (57) continued to play opposite Maxx Crosby (68). The two racked up ten pressures but no sacks.
Ferrell was written up in a Rotoworld blurb as “shaping up as a mega bust”. This creates a fine buy window. To recap, Ferrell has had an OK season. He’s played well and generated 24 pressures (more than Chase Young) but not managed a sack. He’s never looked like a fourth-overall quality NFL player. But he’s certainly worth buying on the cheap.
Los Angeles Chargers – 68 snaps
68 is average for defensive snaps in an NFL game. The Chargers have not hit that level since week five.
DE Melvin Ingram missed another game due to injury. That’s the fourth time this season. At 32 he’s not likely to get more reliable and he’s rivaling Clelin Ferrell in pressure: sack impotence. Ingram has a whopping 28 pressures with no sacks. Which is incredible.
In his absence, Isaac Rochell played just 21 snaps with Jerry Tillery (53) playing plenty on the edge with Uchenna Nwosu also missing the game. He’s done this a couple of times this season with average results. The impression of Tillery is that he’s had a big improvement this season from his abject rookie year. But a lot of that comes from his week one performance when he managed a sack. He still looks sadly like a bust so far.
LB Denzel Perryman (22) was hurt in this game which meant Nick Vigil (41) came in to play next to Kenneth Murray (59). Kyzir white has missed two games straight now.
Chris Harris returned to play 61 snaps at corner. Casey Hayward missed the game.
Miami Dolphins -55 snaps
Star DT Christian Wilkins (45) returned after two weeks out. OK, he’s not quite a star yet. But he could be soon. He’ll also never be an Aaron Donald interior penetrator – but he is a very good all-round tackle who fits perfectly in this scheme that demands tackles play nose as well as three-tech. Zach Sieler (20) lost playing time to accommodate Wilkins.
After his incredible mid-season run (where he got to the QB eight games in a row), Emmanuel Ogbah (39) has cooled off recently. In that run, he managed 39 pressures (nearly five a game) and nine sacks. In his last two games, he’s managed five pressures and zero sacks. I hope you sold high.
Jerome Baker (43) came back to his accustomed volume this week after playing just 20 snaps a week ago. Maybe he took a knock after all. Elandon Roberts (18) obviously made way for him. The last time Baker played every defensive snap was week one.
First-round pick corner Noah Igbinoghene remains a special teamer. He’s played a total of nine defensive snaps in the last five Dolphins games, and 89 special teams snaps.
New England Patriots – 74 snaps
This was by far the most defensive snaps the Patriots have played all season. Going up against the Cardinals will do that to you.
Chase Winovich (60) continues his high-volume streak. He’s averaged 59 snaps over the past three games. He averaged just 29 in his first eight this season.
This was also a Deatrich Wise (53) game. That tends to happen when the Patriots play more odd-front packages.
LB Ja’Whaun Bentley (61) played the majority of snaps and had another productive day. After a slow start, he’s managed five or more solos in his past six straight games. Teams are playing one orthodox LB more often and it seems that the solos LB tends to have a higher-than-normal tackle efficiency, which counterbalances Bentley’s low snap counts.
New York Jets – 71 snaps
The Jets are behind only the Seahawks in defensive snap volume.
They’re universally derided as being awful but this defense does have strong points. This week edge Jordan Jenkins (53) and interior lineman Quinnen Williams (52) in particular were excellent. They generated 13 pressures and four sacks between them.
Neville Hewitt (71) and Harvey Langi (64) continue to be the every-down LBs. They didn’t have big games this week – but we know they will come in this defense.
Pittsburgh Steelers – snaps
Due to this game being postponed, it’s too late to include here.
Tennessee Titans – 74 snaps
LB Jayon Brown missed this game. His role was shared out among three players (which tells you how important he is to the defense). LBs Will Compton (30) and David Long (36) saw the field alongside safety Amani Hooker (27) as a third safety.
Rashaan Evans (60) obviously played his normal LB role, while Kevin Byard (74) and Kenny Vaccaro (72) did the same at safety.
Good luck everyone!
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