Unless we’re analyzing workhorse running backs or alpha wide receivers, a player’s usage can fluctuate from week to week. Some will shine and some will ruin your week. Remember, targets and opportunities are earned. In this series, I will provide weekly target shares, rushing attempt shares, and snap shares of SIX players (or group of players) to help you understand the value of each of them and decide whether to start ‘em, roster ‘em, or trade ‘em.
Green Bay Packers RB Room
Snap Share: 59.3% vs. 42.4%
Rushing Attempts Share: 29.5% vs. 35.3% 13 vs. 11
Target Share: 19.0% vs. 0.0%
Weighted opportunities: 13.9 vs. 6.4
Remember the week 1 article when we talked about Aaron Jones? It’s happening, he is losing opportunities to AJ Dillon. Dillon is a good RB and he has earned his playing time, also remember he is a second-round pick. Aaron Jones is still going to be relevant each week, don’t worry, but his ceiling is now capped by a younger back. I would still try to sell him for an RB like Kamara, Elliott, or even Swift.
Denver Broncos RB Room
Melvin Gordon vs Javonte Williams
Snap Share: 53.1% vs. 46.9%
Rushing Attempts Share: 51.7% vs. 31.6% 10 vs. 11
Target Share: 6.3% vs 6.3%
Weighted opportunities: 10.6 vs. 11.2
Should we still dream about Javonte Williams getting most of the workload? I’m slowly getting down off that boat. Javonte Williams has been really good, he is breaking tackles and making explosive plays each week. Nevertheless, Melvin Gordon is still not washed, he is running well, he has good rushing yards over expected and nothing in the last six weeks shows any indication of a plan to give the full-time job to Javonte this season. His snaps and opportunities have been surrounding 50% every single week and I see no clear path to being a workhorse this year.
Melvin Gordon is a buy for me, everybody treats him as a washed RB but he still has 50% of the workload and can be useful during the bye weeks. Javonte Williams truthers beware, but I’m trying to sell him this year. The only condition for you to sell is to sell him at a price that reflects him getting the full-time job at the end of the year.
Rashod Bateman (WR – BAL)
Snap Share: 65.2%
Targets: 6
Target Share: 22.2%
Team Air Yards: 22.3%
Rashod Bateman season has just started. He wasn’t even getting a complete receiving workload and he was the target leader with Mark Andrews. Alpha gonna alpha. With Lamar Jackson playing at an MVP level form, Bateman could see strong outings every single week. I’m waiting another week to plug him into my lineups, but go get him while you can. He is going to be leading this WR group each week and is going to be a great backup during the bye weeks.
Laviska Shenault (WR – JAX)
Snap Share: 78.8%
Targets: 10
Target Share: 24.4%
Team Air Yards: 16.0%
Are we finally going to see a good usage of Laviska Shenault? I’m not confident enough yet. I like seeing him with a lot of targets, but his air yards aren’t WR1 level yet. He is still being out-snapped, has less air yards and the same targets as Marvin Jones Jr. I’m still hoping we see a good connection between him and Trevor Lawrence as the season progresses, but I’m going to patiently wait for it to happen. I love the talent, but not yet in love with the usage. He is a hold for me and I hope he can give us more confidence for the bye weeks to come.
Seattle Seahawks WR Room
Snap Share: 75.4% vs. 89.2%
Targets: 7 vs. 7
Target Share: 22.6% vs. 22.6%
Team Air Yards: 34.6% vs. 46.2%
Their first week with Geno Smith could have gone a lot worse. Lockett only caught two out of his seven targets, but it is very positive to see him getting the targets, the snaps, and the air yards. To be fair, the Steelers are a very tough challenge in your first start after four years. Sadly next week isn’t getting better when they receive a tough Saints defense. The Jaguars before the bye and the Packers after the bye should be a little bit better. I would not sit them unless I have really good backup options. They should still see good enough volume to expect over 10 points, but they won’t have the upside of over 20-25 points they had with Wilson.
Mike Gesicki (TE – MIA)
Snap Share: 70.0%
Targets: 9
Target Share: 19.1%
Team Air Yards: 21.7%
Congratulations to everyone who didn’t give up on Mike Gesicki. This is the kind of usage we have been waiting for. There were some people who thought the connection with Tua Tagovailoa was non-existent but London showed us otherwise. Gesicki is getting looked at and with no Fuller and no Parker he is going to continue eating each week. I loved what I saw of Tua in his first game back and that makes me very hopeful of Gesicki this 2021. Just look at the numbers, those are WR numbers, 19.1% target share and 21.7% team air yards are amazing. I’ll have him locked in my lineups until further notice and I consider him the TE8 for the rest of the season.
Hey, thanks for reading the article. My DMs are always open to any question, critic, or fantasy advice in any format. You can find me on Twitter @MisterMartinez9.
