Risers
Taywan Taylor (WR – Tennessee Titans) Taylor has seen his snaps increase week-to-week from 9, to 24, to 32, to 45 last week. Over that span he’s seen his targets and receptions increase leading up to a 77-yard performance on seven catches. Marcus Mariota seems to be getting healthy and hopefully this offense can finally get going after stumbling out of the gates. Taylor and the Titans have a fairly tempting matchup on the road against the Bills this coming week and his snaps should remain pretty steady from here on out.
Sony Michel (RB – New England Patriots) Since Rex Burkhead landed on IR, it only made sense for the Patriots to unleash Michel a little more as long as he was healthy and could hang on to the ball. Michel does have a bit of a ball control problem so that's something to monitor.. However, on Sunday against Miami, Michel touched the ball 25 times on 33 snaps, which was an uptick from the 14 carries on 23 snaps the week prior. James White and Michel are the only two healthy options in New England’s backfield and White figures to be featured more on passing downs so don’t be surprised if Michel’s snap count continues to grow.
Aaron Jones (RB – Green Bay Packers) When Aaron Rodgers speaks openly about getting more work and snaps for Aaron Jones , you better believe he’ll get his way. It’s pretty clear that Jones is the best running back in Green Bay. He had 11 carries on 29 snaps and scored a touchdown with 65 rushing yards against the Buffalo Bills. Jamaal Williams was unable to take advantage of the opportunity afforded to him by Jones’ two-game suspension. Jones has come back and supplanted himself as the best running back in Green Bay and should see a majority of the snaps and carries going forward.
Jordan Matthews (WR – Philadelphia Eagles) It should come as a surprise to nobody, but Jordan Matthews has quickly found his way back to being a valued weapon for the Eagles. Now he had just one catch that went for 56 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, but he had a great relationship with Carson Wentz in the past and his snaps and targets should only go up from here. His snaps jumped from 33-to-47 this past week and while their may be plenty of mouths to feed in Philly (Alshon Jeffery , Zach Ertz , Nelson Agholor ) Matthews will develop back into a regular target for Carson Wentz .
Fallers
Kenyan Drake (RB – Miami Dolphins) Drake has seen his snaps drop in each of his first four games of the season. They’ve fallen from 46 in Week 1 to just 22 last week against New England. Drake averaged 4.8 yards per carry last season and proved to be a useful option in the passing game. For whatever reason Adam Gase is shunning him from the offense and it’s beyond frustrating for fantasy owners. He’s touched the ball just 11 times over the past two weeks, but hopefully he gets back in the good graces of the coaching staff ahead of Sunday’s road game in Cincinnati.
Brandon Marshall (WR – Seattle Seahawks) Call it age or the return of Doug Baldwin , but Marshall saw his snap count drop from 43-to-24. Coincidentally he saw his targets fall to three on Sunday after recording three straight games of six targets. It might be worth mentioning that Baldwin saw seven targets this past Sunday, but Marshall still poses a threat in the red zone as all three of his targets came from inside Arizona’s 26-yard line.
Jesse James (TE – Pittsburgh Steelers) It’s official. Vance McDonald is the lead tight end in Pittsburgh. James saw 69 snaps in Week 1, but only 28 in Week 4. This dropoff is pretty surprising when you take into consideration that he had five catches for 138 yards and a touchdown in Week 2. Since then he has just two catches for 30 yards while McDonald has 12 catches for 200 yards and a touchdown through three games this season. McDonald’s not a stout fantasy tight end option, but he’s clearly cutting into James’ workload.
Peyton Barber (RB – Tampa Bay Buccaneers) It hasn’t exactly gone Barber’s way through the first four weeks of the 2018 NFL season. He’s averaging just a hair under three yards per carry and hasn’t found the end zone. He saw his snaps drop from 44-to-31 and this was likely because the team wanted to get rookie Ronald Jones II reps in his first career game. Jones didn’t fare much better, but had 11 touches on 20 snaps. The Bucs are on a Bye this week and so far neither running back has made their claim on the starting running back job.
Notable Snap Counts
Nick Chubb (RB – Cleveland Browns) Chubb was a waiver wire darling this past week because most people saw the output of his work and didn’t realize he played on just three snaps against the Raiders on Sunday. However, on those three snaps he received three carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Will this lead to an increased workload? Maybe, but don’t for one second think he’ll take a significant chunk out of Carlos Hyde ’s workload. Chubb was outstanding on Sunday and unsustainably efficient, but his progression will take time. It would be a big step up for him if he even saw 15-20 snaps this coming week.
Mike Davis (RB – Seattle Seahawks) You could say that Davis should be included in the Risers section because he went from eight snaps in Week 3 to 47 this past Sunday. It’s confusing what the Seahawks aim to do with the backfield and dare I say it’s more confusing than New England’s running back carousel? Let’s recap: the Seahawks selected Rashaad Penny with their first-round pick in this year’s draft, but in training camp they go with Chris Carson . Then Chris Carson gets pulled from the game in Week 3 because Pete Carroll said he was used too much on special teams. Then Chris Carson is inactive and you’d think Penny was in line for more work? Wrong, that all went to Davis who had one hell of a day. I doubt Davis sees 40+ snaps especially if Carson’s active, but it may say something about how the team feels about Penny as of right now.
Cameron Brate (TE – Tampa Bay Buccaneers) O.J. Howard suffered a sprained MCL this past week that could keep him sidelined for two-to-four weeks. Coincidentally enough, Jameis Winston replaced Ryan Fitzpatrick in Sunday’s game. So while Brate saw a season-high 37 snaps with Howard out and Winston under center, you can expect that number to climb. Brate and Winston have connected for 14 touchdowns over the last two seasons. O.J. Howard is a better overall talent, but Brate and Winston could rekindle some of that old magic to give Brate quite a bit of fantasy upside.
Keke Coutee (WR – Houston Texans) Coutee has seen 80 snaps so far this season and all 80 came on Sunday against the Colts in a breakout performance that was made possible due to an injury to Will Fuller . Coutee ended up with 11 catches on 15 targets for 109 yards in his first game. It was a hell of a debut, but his production could be dependent on Fuller’s health. Fuller was a limited participant at practice on Wednesday with a hamstring injury. Hamstring injuries are a massive inconvenience and it’s the one injury that could linger. If Fuller’s out for Week 5, then expect Coutee to maintain the high snap count.