Week One in the NFL is done. While a lot of teams are "who we thought they were" there are also some interesting and maybe even troubling trends that occurred during week one. Here I will address some of the more troubled variety so get ready to sweat your fantasy and best ball stock cause here we go. Make sure to subscribe to the YouTube Channel TAKING BACK DFS Follow Us On Twitter @takingbackdfs and last but not least you can Support Us on PATREON
T.J. Yeldon
There was a point in time where popular opinion was T.J. Yeldon had a realistic shot at pass down work in the Buffalo offense. If Week One is any indication going forward The Bills seem par for the course to get Devin Singletary significant work while also mixing in Frank Gore. The Bills showed a 70-30 time split between the two backs leaving Yeldon as the odd man out marring an injury. If for some reason Yeldon is on your fantasy roster, he is a safe dump and also the longest of dart plays in DFS purposes for now.
Kerryon Johnson
While I will not hit the panic button just yet this one was a little concerning as well. A realistic yet lofty expectation coming into the season would have been Kerryon seeing at least 75% of the snaps. Yet significantly, in a game that stayed competitive and ended in a tie, Kerryon only saw the field for about 57% of snaps.
Devonta Freeman
Speculation amid Atlantas backfield suggested that Devonta Freeman was perhaps in a position to take the reigns as the true number one after the departure of Tevin Coleman. Dan Quinn provided a lot of coachspeak during the preseason about having a plethora of talent at RB and even hinted to a multiple headed timeshare. Long story short in a week one game where Atlanta was playing catch up for four quarters, we saw Freeman split snaps 50-50 with Ito Smith. In the end Freeman saw 8 carries to Smith's 6. Freeman saw 3 passing targets while Smith saw just 1. Smiths first carry came in the second quarter when the Falcons were already down by 14. So it is very possible that this is skewed by game script. I think I want to lean on if things are going well for Freeman they will let him roll, but in games where they are getting behind they may not want to just keep sending Freeman out to the wolves.
Ezekiel Elliot
This one may or may not be a surprise but for the first week I would assume while Zeke was still getting up to "game speed" Zeke did only see 54% of snaps. Tony Pollard saw 32 %. I really want to lean on this being smoke and mirrors and we should see Zekes reps increase gradually pnce he gets into that game shape.
Julio Jones
68% of snaps we saw Julio Jones in Week One. Should we worry about this going forward? Is he on a "pitch count" so to speak? All great questions that I do not have the answers for, my best guess is this usage was strongly related to the game script. It is still troubling, that in a game where Atlanta was down so much for so long, their star receiver was on the field for 11% less snaps than Calvin Ridley.
Anthony Miller
The Bears had trouble doing anything on offense in week one, so you would think that snap counts here would be very true to what Chicago would want ideally for their team to perform. Of course adjustments can be made but it looks like Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel are the priority with the duo being on the field for almost all the offensive snaps. Miller who was thought to figure in as the WR3 on the team was outsnapped by Javon Wims and Corrdarrelle Patterson. It appears as if coach speak in the preseason was true about Millers missed time.
Stefon Diggs
Diggs ended up playing 60% of Minnesotas snaps in week one. There are some things to consider that should not alarm us too much. First of course he was questionable coming into the game so natrually his overall involvement in the game was always going to be something of a decoy. Also this could be another case of game script, Minnesota was very much in control of this game from the start and were more than likely proceeding with caution when it came to Diggs. Still, I have seen this play out with many receivers that have had injuries of this nature, where we may see him in this limited role all season and the worst fear of that would be him being unable to do what he does best and get deep down field. In essence its a very real possibility that Diggs upside for the season is all but gone.
T.J. Yeldon
There was a point in time where popular opinion was T.J. Yeldon had a realistic shot at pass down work in the Buffalo offense. If Week One is any indication going forward The Bills seem par for the course to get Devin Singletary significant work while also mixing in Frank Gore. The Bills showed a 70-30 time split between the two backs leaving Yeldon as the odd man out marring an injury. If for some reason Yeldon is on your fantasy roster, he is a safe dump and also the longest of dart plays in DFS purposes for now.
Kerryon Johnson
While I will not hit the panic button just yet this one was a little concerning as well. A realistic yet lofty expectation coming into the season would have been Kerryon seeing at least 75% of the snaps. Yet significantly, in a game that stayed competitive and ended in a tie, Kerryon only saw the field for about 57% of snaps.
Devonta Freeman
Speculation amid Atlantas backfield suggested that Devonta Freeman was perhaps in a position to take the reigns as the true number one after the departure of Tevin Coleman. Dan Quinn provided a lot of coachspeak during the preseason about having a plethora of talent at RB and even hinted to a multiple headed timeshare. Long story short in a week one game where Atlanta was playing catch up for four quarters, we saw Freeman split snaps 50-50 with Ito Smith. In the end Freeman saw 8 carries to Smith's 6. Freeman saw 3 passing targets while Smith saw just 1. Smiths first carry came in the second quarter when the Falcons were already down by 14. So it is very possible that this is skewed by game script. I think I want to lean on if things are going well for Freeman they will let him roll, but in games where they are getting behind they may not want to just keep sending Freeman out to the wolves.
Ezekiel Elliot
This one may or may not be a surprise but for the first week I would assume while Zeke was still getting up to "game speed" Zeke did only see 54% of snaps. Tony Pollard saw 32 %. I really want to lean on this being smoke and mirrors and we should see Zekes reps increase gradually pnce he gets into that game shape.
Julio Jones
68% of snaps we saw Julio Jones in Week One. Should we worry about this going forward? Is he on a "pitch count" so to speak? All great questions that I do not have the answers for, my best guess is this usage was strongly related to the game script. It is still troubling, that in a game where Atlanta was down so much for so long, their star receiver was on the field for 11% less snaps than Calvin Ridley.
Anthony Miller
The Bears had trouble doing anything on offense in week one, so you would think that snap counts here would be very true to what Chicago would want ideally for their team to perform. Of course adjustments can be made but it looks like Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel are the priority with the duo being on the field for almost all the offensive snaps. Miller who was thought to figure in as the WR3 on the team was outsnapped by Javon Wims and Corrdarrelle Patterson. It appears as if coach speak in the preseason was true about Millers missed time.
Stefon Diggs
Diggs ended up playing 60% of Minnesotas snaps in week one. There are some things to consider that should not alarm us too much. First of course he was questionable coming into the game so natrually his overall involvement in the game was always going to be something of a decoy. Also this could be another case of game script, Minnesota was very much in control of this game from the start and were more than likely proceeding with caution when it came to Diggs. Still, I have seen this play out with many receivers that have had injuries of this nature, where we may see him in this limited role all season and the worst fear of that would be him being unable to do what he does best and get deep down field. In essence its a very real possibility that Diggs upside for the season is all but gone.