Fantasy Notebook: Snaps, Targets, Air Yards, and Trends From Week 1

Opportunity is king when it comes to fantasy football production.  Therefore, it is important to be aware of each player’s opportunity share. Past opportunity helps us predict future usage and, in turn, future fantasy output. But I understand that not every fantasy gamer has the time or resources to stay on top of the recent trends.  So, I am doing the research for you.

As a weekly series, I look at every box score, track target share, snap share, and air yards. I compile all of the trends that I find useful or interesting here in order to help you make better lineup and roster decisions.  Pair this with our team profiles, weekly rankings, matchups preview, start/sit assistant, trade calculator, and other articles to give your teams an edge over the competition. Without further ado, here is everything I took away from an exciting Week 1 of snaps, targets, air yards, and trends.

Snap Share

• Tony Pollard who? Ezekiel Elliott showed he’s still the king of the Dallas backfield with an 84% snap share

• Ronald Jones was benched following a critical fumble. Leonard Fournette finished with a 65% Snap Share

• Antonio Brown played on 65% of the snaps on opening night; Godwin and Evans were both over 90%

• The Cowboys TE Snaps went like this: Blake Jarwin 58%, Dalton Schultz 69%; This was Jarwin’s first full game in almost two years and he signed a pretty decent extension before last year. The snap shares were close enough to tell me a breakout season could still be in the cards

• Cardinals backfield snaps: Chase Edmonds 58%, James Conner 49%

• Mike Davis saw a 75% snap share

• With Zack Moss a healthy scratch, Devin Singletary was on the field for 75% of the snaps. Matt Breida: 12%

• Joe Mixon had a 78% snap share

• The Denver backfield was an exact split. Javonte Williams 33 snaps, Melvin Gordon 33 snaps

• Lions backfield: D’Andre Swift 68%, Jamaal Williams 35%

• Mark Ingram led the Houston backfield with a 46% snap share. David Johnson was the next highest with 28%

• Jaguars backfield: James Robinson 64%, Carlos Hyde 34%

• Larry Rountree was the clear RB2 behind Austin Ekeler with a 27% snap share. Justin Jackson saw 14%

• Darrell Henderson was in on 94% of the snaps Sunday night

• Myles Gaskin picked up where he left off in 2020 with a 54% snap share

• Jets backfield: Ty Johnson 54%, Tevin Coleman 26%, Michael Carter 25%

• Najee Harris took 100% of the snaps

• 49ers backfield: Elijah Mitchell 64%, JaMycal Hasty: 29%

• AJ Green played 80% of the snaps

• The Bills have a clear top-3 at WR as Diggs, Sanders, and Beasley were all in on over 90% of the snaps. Gabriel Davis was next closest at 51%

• Ja’Marr Chase played 90% of the snaps in his NFL debut

• With OBJ out, Peoples-Jones played 80% of the snaps, Anthony Schwartz played 53% and Rashard Higgins played 7% behind Jarvis Landry at 86%

• Kalif Raymond led Lions WRs in snaps with a 75% share. Amon-ra St. Brown was next closest at 64%

• KJ Osborn played on 81% of the snaps as the Vikings clear WR3

• Marquez Callaway had a quiet game vs Jaire Alexander but was on the field for 84% of the snaps

• Kadarius Toney played just 8% of the snaps in his NFL debut

• Elijah Moore was on the field 86% of the time in his NFL debut

• Devonta Smith operated as the clear WR1 in Philly with an 87% snap share. Jalen Reagor was second at 70%

• Brandon Aiyuk played just 47% of the snaps

• Dyami Brown played 93% of the snaps in his NFL debut

• David Njoku played 59% of the snaps but Austin Hooper still led the way at 64%

• Tyler Higbee played 100% of the snaps

• Patriots TEs: Hunter Henry: 72%, Jonnu Smith: 73%

• Adam Trautman played 82% of the snaps for New Orleans. Juwan Johnson scored twice but played just 19% of the snaps

• Pat Freiermuth led all Steelers TEs with a 50% snap share in his NFL debut

• Gerald Everett (72%) and Will Dissly (70%)  each saw over 70% snap share

Target Share

• Rob Gronkowski saw a 16% Target Share. His season average last year was 12.7%

• Cowboys WRs: Cooper 28%, Lamb 26%, Gallup 12%

• Buccaneers WRs: Godwin 28%, Brown 14%, Evans 12%

• Leonard Fournette saw a 14% Target Share

• Austin Ekeler had zero targets

• Panthers WRs: DJ Moore: 24.2%, Robby Anderson: 9.1%, Terrace Marshall: 18.2%

• Cardinals WRs: DeAndre Hopkins: 25%, Christian Kirk: 15.63%, Rondale Moore: 15.63%, AJ Green: 18.75%

• Deebo Samuel had a 52.3% target share

• Antonio Gibson had a 23.8% Target Share

• Mike Davis saw 18.2% of the targets

• Robby Anderson’s target share in Week 1: 9.1%; Robby Anderson’s lowest single-game target share last season: 14.7%.

• Chase Edmonds had a 12% target share

• Joe Mixon had a 15% target share

• D’Andre Swift was the target on 19% of Jared Goff’s attempts. Jamaal Williams also saw a 16% share

• Colts RBs: Jonathan Taylor 18 target share, Nyheim Hines 21%

• Myles Gaskin 19% target share

• Miles Sanders 14% target share

• Marquez Valdes-Scantling had a 20% target share

• Michael Pittman saw just 11% of the targets

• DJ Chark led Jacksonville with a 24% Target Share

• Cooper Kupp saw a 38% Target Share in first game with Matthew Stafford

• Kenny Golladay had a 16% target share in Giants debut

• Deebo Samuel had a whopping 46% target share

• Chester Rogers had a target share (17%) equal to Julio Jones

• Dyami Brown had a 19% target share

• Kyle Pitts had a 23% target share in NFL debut

• Cole Kmet saw an 18% target share

• David Njoku had an 18% target share compared to Austin Hooper’s 11%

• Noah Fant saw a 22% target share

• Tyler Higbee saw 23% of the targets in first game with Stafford

• Patriots TEs: Hunter Henry 8%, Jonnu Smith 13%

• Adam Trautman was the target of 29% of Jameis Winston’s targets. Comparatively, Juwan Johnson saw 14%

• Eagles TEs: Goedert 14%, Ertz 6%

Top-5 RBs in Target Share

1.Christian McCaffrey: 26%

2. Antonio Gibson: 24%

3. Nyheim Hines: 21

4. Alvin Kamara: 19%

5. D’Andre Swift: 19%

T-5. Myles Gaskin: 19%

Top-5 WRs in Target Share

1.Deebo Samuel: 46%

2.Tyreek Hill: 42%

3.Cooper Kupp: 38%

4.Diontae Johnson: 31%

5.Amari Cooper: 28%

T-5.Allen Robinson: 28%

Top-5 TEs in Target Share

1.Darren Waller 36.5%

2.Adam Trautman: 29%

3.Kyle Pitts: 23%

4.Tyler Higbee: 23%

5.Noah Fant: 22%

Top-15 In Air Yards (% of team share)

1. Tyreek Hill 231 (69.0%)

2. Darren Waller 203 (36.9%)

3. DJ Chark 199 (48.1%)

4. CeeDee Lamb 159

5. Marquez Valdes-Scantling 156 (46.6%)

6. Stefon Diggs 150 (30.5%)

7. Emmanuel Sanders 149 (30.3%)

8. Antonio Brown 144

9. Brandin Cooks 132 (41.5%)

10. Amari Cooper 127

11. Anthony Schwartz 126 (44.4%)

12. Mike Williams 118 (32.4%)

13. Corey Davis 118 (32.8%)

14. Ja’Marr Chase 114 (51.8%)

15. Justin Jefferson 113 (36.7%)

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