Snap Count Observations: Transactions to Make for Week 8 (Fantasy Football)

Buffalo Bills

Amari Cooper 35%

Amari Cooper played limited snaps in his first game as a Bill, but that’s not entirely surprising given that he was traded mid-week. He clearly did not have a full grasp of the playbook, as you can see in this play he had to ask for Keon Coleman to help him understand an audible.

Amari Cooper just scored his first touchdown with the Bills and he had no idea what the play was! Y’all gotta see this.

When you know what you’re watching, football is so much more fun. #BillsMafia | #AchoAnalysis pic.twitter.com/KTt646KJow

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) October 20, 2024

The crazy thing about this is that he still scored a touchdown. Keon Coleman kind of draws a route for Amari, and he just goes and wins that route. Great player and a great fit for this offense. Amari will learn more of the offense and is sure to get more playing time as a result. Everything bodes well for this addition to the Bills.

Conclusion: No concerns about Amari only playing 35% of snaps.

New York Jets

Davante Adams 96%

The other recently traded for wide receiver, Davante Adams, had a slightly different experience. Rather than playing limited snaps and not understanding the playbook, Adams played basically every snap. However, I am not sure how fully he was integrated into the lineup. He mostly lined up in the slot, and he ran a lot of basic slant routes. Often, he looked like a decoy to me.

Still, Adams led the team in targets and routes run. The problem was that he only caught three of the nine targets and did very little with them. That may be a product of a limited offensive understanding and a team unable to recast its current players into new roles. Garrett Wilson, for example, matched Adams in targets and did far more with them. Breece Hall also saw nine targets as Rodgers dumped off a lot of passes his way, which were honestly the Jets’ most effective offensive plays.

The Steelers are a good defense, and Adams was clearly not fully integrated. So I don’t want to read too much into this game alone. But, a recently traded-for wide receiver playing every snap shows that Adams is the clear alpha, even if he isn’t fully integrated. Can an aging Aaron Rodgers support Adams, Hall, and Wilson? I’d bet no.

Conclusion: Davante Adams is poised to play a ton, and better days are ahead. The QB play of the Jets still leaves something to be desired.

Cincinnati Bengals

Chase Brown 58%; Zack Moss 49%

Chase Brown has succeeded Zack Moss as the RB1 of the Bengals. Brown played more snaps and saw far more opportunities in this game (17 to nine). Moreover, this game wasn’t a blowout, so Brown’s involvement is indicative of the preferred order of these two running backs.

Conclusion: Zack Moss can be dropped.

Cleveland Browns

Nick Chubb 36%; Cedric Tillman 82%; Jerry Jeudy 95%

Lots of changes in Cleveland this week. First, the starting QB goes down (which is probably a good thing from a production standpoint?). Second, the WR1 was traded. And third, Nick Chubb returned from injury. So what did we learn?

First, Nick Chubb is a dawg. In his first game back after yet another devastating injury, he saw 14 opportunities in just 30 snaps. The team did not “ease” him back in terms of opportunities, even if he did play lower-than-average snaps. His efficiency, though, was not great. 22 yards on 11 carries is UGLY, especially against a below-average Cincy defense. Part of this was a complete inability for anyone to throw the ball effectively, including Deshaun Watson. But, Chubb may return to form a bit after he shakes the rust off. Chubb got in the end zone from the one, so it’s encouraging to see him get goal-line work. Still, remember that this is an awful football team, so green zone attempts may be few and far between.

Lastly, removing Amari Cooper from the team allowed Cedric Tillman to get an extended number of runs, and he was quite the target hog. He saw 12 targets from Dorian Thompson-Robinson/Jameis Winston (DTR was required to enter the game because Jameis was “inactive” as the emergency QB; Winston did play in the game because of a DTR injury). Tillman is somewhat interesting, and 12 targets can’t be ignored. Winston was very inaccurate (five for 11), and DTR wasn’t much better (11 for 24). Jameis did throw the TD to Njoku, for what it’s worth. Meanwhile, Jerry Jeudy remained a non-factor despite getting plenty of cardio in.

Conclusion: Njoku is the biggest beneficiary from Cooper leaving town; Cedric Tillman is the other beneficiary. Nick Chubb was leaned on hard in his limited snaps. He could be a useful player down the stretch, but the offense needs to improve under one of Winston or DTR.

Las Vegas Raiders

Alexander Mattison 70%

Mattison’s workload was a season-high this week, and he is approaching workhorse status. I want to ignore this player because of team, age, talent, and all that, but he got 26 opportunities in Week 7 including 23 carries! He wasn’t beating the world in terms of efficiency, but these are numbers few running backs come close to. Basically the only other player who sees this much usage is the running back who was on the other side of the field from the Raiders, Kyren Williams.

Look, temper your expectations with any Raider. The team does not score a lot of points, but this much usage would make for a fantastic flex player, and I think you can count on it. It’s becoming normal (18 opportunities in Week 5, 19 in Week 6, and 26 this week).

Conclusion: Alexander Mattison’s usage renders him close to playable basically every week. Just understand the ceiling is low.

San Francisco 49ers

Ricky Pearsall 76%

Ricky Pearsall made his season debut after a terrible gunshot wound put him on IR to start the season. Just awesome to see him out there, regardless of his impact.

He played a lot in his first game and seemed to be playing something similar to Deebo’s role, who played very few snaps due to an illness. Pearsall didn’t do much with his big snap count, only accounting for five targets and three catches, two of which occurred with the game out of reach.

It’s hard to say how the 49ers will use him moving forward. If Deebo plays, does he still see big snaps? Will he try to fill the void left by Brandon Aiyuk? Was he playing for Jauan Jennings, who also missed the game? The answer is probably “sorta” to all those questions. The 49ers are super banged up, and they need some talent on the field. Pearsall was a first-round pick, and perhaps he was still shaking some rust off. The gunshot probably affected his growth too, simply because he was away from the team during a critical period for a rookie.

I think it’s worth the shot on Pearsall simply because the 49ers don’t have many options without Aiyuk and Jennings. Also, Deebo has a history of missing time, so there could be an opportunity for Pearsall one way or another.

Conclusion: Pick up Ricky Pearsall.