Welcome to my fifth week of the Fantasy Football Usage Report, which Jon Jackson provided for Roto Street Journal in the previous few seasons. At the time of this writing, Monday Night Football hasn’t finished yet.
Feel free to check out the full report here.
Stats were pulled from Pro Football Reference, and built up from there. Metrics referenced here include:
USG — Usage, or Targets+Carries/Team Snaps, denoting how much a player was used during all of their team’s field time
INVL — Involvement, or Targets+Carries/Individual Snaps, denoting how much a player was used during all of their individual field time
U/I — USG/INVL. Ultimately, this is just a player’s snap percentage. But because I look at multiple weeks of USG and INVL, USG/INVL actually uses simpler formulas in my spreadsheet than always referencing a player’s snap percentage
UIP — (USG/INVL)*PPR. Similarly, UIP is just a player’s snap percentage multiplied by their PPR score over the week(s), and to me “UIP” is easier to think of than any abbreviation that would come from “snap percentage times PPR”
DOM — Dominator Rating. A common term in the fantasy football community, it looks at a player’s production and places a value on how much of the individual production accounted for the team’s production
UIP has been particularly fun for me in looking at who is making the most of their opportunities.
In all screenshots, a player’s week 13 Snap Percentage is included to help give context to who the fantasy-relevant players are in general. We’re not worried about anyone consistently getting five snaps a game.
Keeping in line with past Workload Reports, its focus on rushing and receiving work means we won’t really be looking at QBs, but instead RBs, WRs, and TEs, and ideally, I’ll be able to add in post-Monday Night Football data later on.
First, here’s a look at players’ fantasy scoring differences compared to week 8-12.
Player Fantasy Scoring Comparisons (In PPR)
Players with the highest percentage of their team’s PPR points (excluding QB) in week 13:
Ladd McConkey (9 rec, 12 tgts, 117 yds) marks his third week in a row of at least six catches and 83 yards. He’s been at least the WR22 during that stretch during any given week and has done so without getting into the endzone. He makes it to the top of the PPR% list since he was the only big stat line to come out of the Chargers’ offense in week 13. Now the WR13 in half-PPR (pre-Monday Night Football), his impressive rookie season is starting to be joined by consistency.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (3 rec, 8 tgts, 61 yds, 2 TDs) continues to have a nose for the endzone despite being in a mediocre offense, and catching only seven out of 19 targets the past three weeks. He’s the WR7 in half-PPR this week before MNF, and averaging a touchdown-per-game over his last eight games so either he’s going to close out the season on an excellent streak, or he’s lining up to be a disappointment for fantasy players at some point outside of maybe deep leagues.
Players who saw the highest jump in PPR% compared to their week 8-12 rolling average:
Adam Thielen (8 rec, 10 tgts, 99 yds, 1 TD) looks to have fully knocked off the rust from his hamstring injury after his performance against the Buccaneers, on the surface appearing to be reliable FLEX option heading into the fantasy playoffs.
However, we can’t forget how hot Thielen started off last season. He was the WR5 heading into the week 7 bye. From week 8 on, he dropped off to the WR43.
Is it a matter of fresh legs for the 34-year-old, and if so, will his legs stay fresh for four more weeks?
Parker Washington (6 rec, 12 tgts, 103 yds, 1TD) figures to be a hot name off the waiver wire after a career day, and figures to remain getting an 80-ish percent snap share now that Gabe Davis and Christian Kirk are both on IR.
The Texans’ pass defense has been more susceptible to WRs than any other the Jaguars are going to see rest-of-season though, and after the hard hit Trevor Lawrence took, it may be Mac Jones at the helm for a significant amount of time, which further brings into question if Washington can come close to repeating this type of performance.
Players who saw their biggest drop in PPR% from their week 8-12 rolling average:
Involvement (INVL)
Players with the highest week 13 INVL:
Bucky Irving (25 carries, 152 yds, 1 TD, 3 rec, 3 tgts, 33 yards) — After making an appearance in the Usage Report last week largely due to out-catching the usual passing work back Rachaad White 6-to-1, Irving has catapulted his value after bowling over the Panthers.
The Bucs ran a lot, it should be worth noting that Rachaad got 11 carries of his own for 76 yards, but he might have even gotten less work as it seems Bucky ended up with a minor hip injury during the game, that didn’t take him out, but would explain why he only got one touch over the Bucs’ final three drives.
Regardless, Irving is seizing his opportunity to the fullest and continuing to make the case that he should be the primary back in Tampa, a prime candidate as a league-winner for fantasy leagues this season, and into the RB1 territory of value in dynasty leagues.
Players with the highest jump in INVL compared to their week 8-12 rolling average:
Jonathon Brooks (6 carries, 18 yds, 3 rec, 3 tgts, 23 yds) had his snap share go from 8-percent in week 12 to 21-percent this past week. His involvement makes him a possible FLEX option in the playoffs against good matchups for RBs (Cowboys, Cardinals, Bucs) if his snaps continue to rise.
Usage (USG)
Players with the highest week 13 USG:
Those who held on to Jordan Mason in the event that Christian McCaffrey wasn’t 100-percent over the injury bug got a hard stroke of luck this week, now that both are headed to IR after their game against the Bills.
Players with the highest jump in USG compared to their week 8-12 rolling average:
Davante Adams (5 rec, 12 tgts, 66 yds, 1 TD) has seen 43 targets over his last four games, with a stat line that is somewhat metaphorical of the Jets’ season. A lot of looks, but caught less than half of them, getting into the endzone despite the Jets’ loss, I don’t know that the offense will get on the same page at some point this season, so Adams and the rest of the Jets’ talented weapons could remain inefficient.
Players with the biggest drop in USG compared to their week 8-12 rolling average:
Chuba Hubbard and Kareem Hunt‘s falling usage shouldn’t surprise as other backs ramp up coming back from injury on their respective teams, but CeeDee Lamb‘s name on this list could primarily be from having an off night on Thanksgiving against the Giants.
With three early drops, Lamb’s performance parallels a Cowboys offense continuing to find chemistry post Dak Prescott.
UIP (USG/INVL*PPR)
Players with the highest week 13 UIP:
It’s hard to argue that Brock Bowers (10 rec, 14 tgts, 140 yards, 1 TD) isn’t the TE1 in dynasty right now after a career-high day in yards, averaging over 100 yards in his last three games, and perhaps most importantly, displaying himself as QB-proof.
DOM (Dominator Rating)
Players with the highest week 13 DOM:
Marvin Harrison Jr. (5 rec, 12 tgts, 60 yds, 1 TD) had the only touchdown for the Cardinals in their loss to the Vikings, to make his presence at the top of the Dominator list for week 14. As spotty as the Cardinals offense has been, it is good for MHJ’s continued progress to see him get a career-high in targets. At some point, perhaps not until next season, that should turn into better efficiency.
Players with the highest DOM compared to their week 8-12 rolling average:
Late rookie late-round dynasty darling Isaac Guerendo now looks next in line to be scooped up off waiver wires, becoming the 49ers’ lead back, likely find his way onto these lists in next week’s Usage Report, and enter the discussion for fantasy league-winner as we are now one week away from the fantasy playoffs.
Thanks for reading!
