All season long, I’ll be looking back at the week to see how we can best leverage what took place on the field at the running back position to our advantage. This weekly article will hone in on weekly snap shares and highlight a few players who could benefit from their team putting them on the field more in the coming weeks.
We will inevitably get to Keaton Mitchell and his Week 9 outburst, but the rookie UDFA’s performance is far from the only thing fantasy managers will care about ahead of Week 10.
People relying on Zack Moss’s early season production probably want to know what we should expect after his seven-carry, 26-yard performance against the Panthers. And Aaron Jones appears to have made his long-awaited “return” since a Week 1 hamstring injury rendered him all but useless.
I highlight these situations and a few more players in this week’s Snap Report.
As always, below are some players whose performances and situations stood out this past week, and at the end of the article is a table of every player to see 30 percent or more of their team’s snaps in Week 9.
Week 10 byes: KC, LAR, MIA, PHI
NOTE: Snaps and route data courtesy of FantasyPoints.com and PFF.com.
Keaton Mitchell (BAL)
Man, Ravens rookie running back Keaton Mitchell gave us a lot to talk about after his Week 9 performance. The undrafted rookie broke out for 138 rushing yards and one touchdown on nine carries. It was the first time a Ravens running back rushed for 100-plus yards this season.
Gus Edwards hasn’t rushed for 100-plus yards since Week 13 of the 2020 season, but that’s none of my business.
You won’t find Mitchell’s name on the snap share chart at the end of the article. He played on just 17.3 percent of the Ravens’ offensive snaps but was also phased out early in the fourth quarter with the Ravens up 30-3. My early concern for Mitchell is he played on only 13 offensive snaps, per the FantasyPoints.com Data Suite. Justice Hill strangely led the Ravens with 47 snaps and a 62.7 percent snap share, but he also played 17-of-19 offensive snaps in the fourth quarter, leading me to assume John Harbaugh didn’t want his top two backs — Mitchell and Gus Edwards, on the field with the game well out of reach. It’s also worth noting that 26 of Hill’s 47 snaps came on passing downs, while Mitchell and Edwards combined for 12 passing down snaps.
My optimism for Mitchell drastically outweighs my concerns. I’ll be flocking to add him off of waivers this week. He was one of my favorite rookie running backs throughout the draft process and should have been a Day 3 pick in this year’s draft. Days after he was signed by the Ravens, I highlighted Mitchell as a must-stash for dynasty managers.
As far as Mitchell is concerned, fantasy managers who faded another explosive running back earlier this year should view his emergence as a chance to correct course.
Below are some advanced college metrics from Mitchell and the Mystery RB, who will be named later.
In addition to the dangerously close efficiency metrics, Mitchell and our Mystery RB had similar receiving numbers throughout their careers. Mitchell totaled 61 receptions for 579 yards and three touchdowns at East Carolina, averaging 9.5 YPR. The Mystery RB caught 65 passes for 554 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 8.5 YPR.
The two backs also performed similarly at the NFL Scouting combine — with Mitchell testing better in explosiveness drills like the vertical and broad jumps.
Mitchell’s 6.17 RAS narrowly edges out our Mystery RB, who also entered the league as a well-renowned track star during his college days with an SEC program. His third-round draft capital suggested he would get the ball early in his career, which came to fruition in Week 3 when he rushed for 18-203-2 against the Broncos in a blowout win.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, the Mystery RB is none other than Dolphins running De’Von Achane, who took the league by storm before going down in Week 5.
Both undersized but explosive backs, Achane’s SEC pedigree likely pushed him into the third round of this year’s draft, while Mitchell was likely docked for not playing in a Power Five program at East Carolina. It’s yet another part of the flawed draft process, but with a chance to finally show his skills at the NFL level, Mitchell has a chance to be the discounted version of Achane if the Ravens decide to feed him after Week 9’s performance.
Mitchell earning RB1 snaps over Edwards seems highly unlikely, but the Ravens have more than enough room to feed another back — especially one as explosive as Mitchell. Fantasy managers who didn’t want to buy the Achane hype could get a mulligan with Mitchell now on the scene.
Looking for more fantasy football content? Rotoworld has you covered. Watch Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry weekdays at noon ET LIVE on Peacock and the Rotoworld Football Show on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays wherever you get your podcasts.
Jonathan Taylor (IND)
This is more of an alert for Zack Moss managers than a report on Jonathan Taylor, but we’ll highlight Taylor due to his RB1 status.
Since returning in Week 5, Taylor has seen a steady increase in snaps. Those snaps may have peaked in Week 9 against the Panthers when he saw a season-high 75.4 percent snap share while earning 23 of the Colts’ 30 running back opportunities in the victory.
It wasn’t the most efficient day for Taylor, who totaled 69 yards from scrimmage on 23 touches (3.0 yards per touch), but the Colts’ RB1 dominated in opportunities and the passing game. If there was one out Moss managers had, it was the possibility of targets in Indy’s passing game.
Moss was barely hanging on in the passing game, earning 20 targets through his first seven games, but he saw all five running back targets go to Taylor in Week 9 and has been out-targeted by Taylor 18 to 12 since Week 5.
Week 9 was a weird one for the Colts. Two pick-sixes by the defense kept the offense off the field and limited them to just 61 offensive plays, the eighth-fewest of any team on the week. It’s possible in a normal game environment, Moss would have seen more opportunities, but he’ll be hard to trust in Week 10 against the Patriots with Taylor’s continued workload increase.
Aaron Jones (GB)
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said before Week 9 that he was “ready to cut [Aaron Jones] loose” against the Rams. When Sunday finally arrived, LaFleur stuck to his word.
Jones has played on 59 percent of offensive snaps since LaFleur arrived in Green Bay in 2019 and saw a near-full complement of snaps (57.4 percent) in the Packers’ win over the Rams.
The veteran running back rushed 20 times for 73 yards and a touchdown while adding another four receptions for 26 yards. His 26 opportunities were more than double what A.J. Dillon (10) received, and most importantly, Jones didn’t appear to suffer any setbacks in the win.
When healthy, Jones looks like a league-winner. We saw a glimpse of it in Week 1 against the Bears when he totaled 127 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns on just 11 touches, and his 19.9 PPR points were good for an RB5 finish last week. Assuming he’s healthy, Jones will be a fringe RB1 in most weeks while operating as the Packers’ bell cow back.
Alvin Kamara (NO)
What in the world is happening with Alvin Kamara?
The veteran running back saw a season-low 50 percent snap share in the Saints’ win over the Bears and has seen his snap share decline in each of the last three weeks since topping out at 80 percent in Week 6.
It’s not great for Kamara, who saw 14 opportunities to Taysom Hill’s 16 in Week 9, and that’s not counting the one pass attempt Hill had that went for a touchdown. Hill led the Saints with 11 rush attempts last week, while Kamara trailed closely behind with nine. Both players were targeted five times.
Perhaps even worse for Kamara and his fantasy managers was what head coach Dennis Allen had to say regarding Kamara’s snaps.
Allen doesn’t appear concerned about Kamara’s snaps, especially in a game they won, and there’s a chance he continues to seek a more balanced approach going forward.
Also worth noting is the 41.9 percent snap share Jamaal Williams saw last week, which was his highest total since Week 1.
Fantasy managers should and will continue playing Kamara, as the weekly upside is too great to bench in any given week. He still finished as the RB18 in PPR leagues, but that came in a week with several high-end RBs out or on bye. His 11.0 PPR was well below his season average 22.8 heading into the week.
That said, more frustrating days could be ahead if Allen prefers to keep the Taysom Hill gimmick going.
Week 9 Snap Share
| Player | Team | Snaps | Team Snaps | Snap % |
| Rachaad White | TB | 51 | 63 | 81.0% |
| Josh Jacobs | LV | 46 | 59 | 78.0% |
| Tony Pollard | DAL | 53 | 70 | 75.7% |
| Jonathan Taylor | IND | 43 | 57 | 75.4% |
| Joe Mixon | CIN | 50 | 67 | 74.6% |
| Devin Singletary | HST | 46 | 62 | 74.2% |
| Saquon Barkley | NYG | 46 | 62 | 74.2% |
| Isiah Pacheco | KC | 40 | 56 | 71.4% |
| Chuba Hubbard | CAR | 46 | 71 | 64.8% |
| D’Onta Foreman | CHI | 41 | 64 | 64.1% |
| Jerome Ford | CLV | 45 | 71 | 63.4% |
| D’Andre Swift | PHI | 37 | 59 | 62.7% |
| Justice Hill | BLT | 47 | 75 | 62.7% |
| Rhamondre Stevenson | NE | 39 | 63 | 61.9% |
| Darrell Henderson | LA | 34 | 55 | 61.8% |
| Bijan Robinson | ATL | 41 | 67 | 61.2% |
| Tyjae Spears | TEN | 41 | 68 | 60.3% |
| Najee Harris | PIT | 36 | 60 | 60.0% |
| Zach Charbonnet | SEA | 27 | 47 | 57.4% |
| Aaron Jones | GB | 39 | 68 | 57.4% |
| Brian Robinson | WAS | 44 | 77 | 57.1% |
| Alexander Mattison | MIN | 41 | 73 | 56.2% |
| James Cook | BUF | 30 | 55 | 54.5% |
| Raheem Mostert | MIA | 30 | 57 | 52.6% |
| Alvin Kamara | NO | 31 | 62 | 50.0% |
| Derrick Henry | TEN | 33 | 68 | 48.5% |
| Kenneth Walker | SEA | 22 | 47 | 46.8% |
| Latavius Murray | BUF | 25 | 55 | 45.5% |
| Keaontay Ingram | ARZ | 21 | 48 | 43.8% |
| Antonio Gibson | WAS | 33 | 77 | 42.9% |
| Jamaal Williams | NO | 26 | 62 | 41.9% |
| Jaylen Warren | PIT | 25 | 60 | 41.7% |
| A.J. Dillon | GB | 27 | 68 | 39.7% |
| Ezekiel Elliott | NE | 25 | 63 | 39.7% |
| Tony Jones | ARZ | 19 | 48 | 39.6% |
| Kenneth Gainwell | PHI | 23 | 59 | 39.0% |
| Royce Freeman | LA | 21 | 55 | 38.2% |
| Austin Ekeler | LAC | 21 | 56 | 37.5% |
| Tyler Allgeier | ATL | 25 | 67 | 37.3% |
| Cam Akers | MIN | 22 | 73 | 30.1% |
