By now, you have probably heard about the passing of our head Fantasy Pros analyst Mike Tagliere. It’s not an exaggeration to say I wouldn’t be writing this series without him. He vouched for me when I applied for an assignment with Fantasy Pros when he didn’t have to. I certainly didn’t have the Twitter following or name recognition he did but we were friends and he liked helping his friends. He also loved nothing more than to help all of you reading this. His passion shone through in his articles here and will be missed terribly. If you’re so inclined, you can donate to his family here to help them get through this time: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-tagliere-family.
Without further ado, with an assist from Mike for getting me here, this week’s Running Back Snap Count Analysis.
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Minnesota Vikings
- Alexander Mattison (RB – MIN) – 51 snaps (70%)
- Ameer Abdullah (RB – MIN) – 22 snaps (30%)
It’s not all that surprising that it was Alexander Mattison who took control of the Minnesota Vikings run game. He handled 26 carries (more than Dalvin Cook (RB – MIN) did in either of the first two contests) and rumbled for 112 yards. What was surprising was just how much attention he saw in the passing game. The eight targets he saw were not only good for third-most on the team Sunday but the eight now represent 22% of the targets Mattison has now seen in his three-year career.
Ever since he was drafted in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, he’s solidified his handcuff role to Dalvin Cook with solid, but not spectacular, results. He’s good enough to keep the backup job but not good enough to surpass Cook on the depth chart or be wanted by another team. That may change as Mattison enters his third season with the Vikings and continues to show that he can handle the workload. At a minimum, Mattison will be an RB1 in weeks that Cook misses (Cook is good for at least two missed games a season) and should be handcuffed by current Cook owners.
Atlanta Falcons
- Mike Davis (RB – ATL) – 37 snaps (59%)
- Cordarrelle Patterson RB/WR – ATL) – 26 snaps (41%)
Well, this has been a fun development. After low-key being hyped as an RB2 in the off-season, Mike Davis has been very ‘meh’ this season including in Week Three. Case in point, the 50 yards he rushed for against the Giants was actually a season-high. Now, he is slightly making up for it in the passing game, averaging nearly six targets per game but the lack of production on the ground means Davis hasn’t been worth his ADP.
Meanwhile, Cordarrelle Patterson, who was free before the season started, is proving to be quite the value at the position. He’s seen seven rush attempts in each game this season and has been more productive than Davis, scoring once and averaging four yards per carry (compared to no touchdowns and 3.8 YPC for Davis). He’s been used just as much in the passing game, seeing 16 targets catching 13 of them for 153 yards and another score. Moving forward, Davis is unreliable as an RB2 and fits in more into the FLEX spot on your roster. Sadly (for those that drafted Davis), so does Patterson.
Buffalo Bills
- Zack Moss (RB – BUF) – 45 snaps (58%)
- Devin Singletary (RB – BUF) – 33 snaps (42%)
At first glance, it looks like Devin Singletary has taken a back seat to Zack Moss in the Buffalo backfield. But he actually had as many carries as he has all season in a game. He totaled 11 in Week Three which is what he had in Week One and two less than he had in Week Two. The difference is he wasn’t nearly as effective this week, averaging 2.4 yards-per-carry as opposed to the six-plus he averaged in both of the first two weeks. So it goes for Singletary who teased fantasy players early on.
If anyone is hard to pin down, it’s Moss who went from inactive in Week One to lead the backfield in Week Two. He out carried Singletary, 13-11, and was much more effective, totaling 60 yards. He also outperformed in the passing game, catching all three targets for 31 yards and a touchdown.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Gio Bernard (RB – TB) – 33 snaps (46%)
- Leonard Fournette (RB – TB) – 26 snaps (37%)
- Ronald Jones (RB – TB) – 12 snaps (17%)
Well now we know what the Tampa offense looks like when they’re playing from behind and it includes a lot of Gio Bernard. Not in the running game where Bernard failed to record a carry despite leading the backfield in carries. Rather it was in the passing game where Bernard saw the most action with 10 targets – tied for the team lead – catching nine of them for 51 yards and a touchdown.
Ronald Jones technically saw the most carries with five, one more than Leonard Fournette, but was a non-factor, seeing just 12 snaps all game. Fournette added three targets and receptions on top of his four carries and should be considered the lead back. But no matter who the ‘lead’ back is, the Tampa offense is about as pass-heavy as it comes, leading the league at 47 pass attempts per game. No Buccaneers running back is a viable play at this point.
San Francisco 49ers
- Kyle Juszczyk (RB/FB – SF) – 48 snaps
- Trey Sermon (RB – SF) – 41 snaps
Behold, the 49er backfield when they lose three of their top running backs. It apparently involves more fullback Kyle Juszczyk in the passing game and Trey Sermon handling the carries. While Sermon led the team with 10 carries (and managing to punch one in for a score), Juszczyk saw season-highs in targets (four), receptions (four), receiving yards (37), and managed to score a touchdown himself. This will probably be the last time the backfield looks this way for the 49ers as they get Kerryon Johnson (RB – SF) game-ready with rookie Elijah Mitchell (RB – SF) set to return.
Funny enough, the 49ers made up for their lack of healthy running backs by giving their pass catchers more carries along with their rookie quarterback. George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk (WR – SF), and Deebo Samuel (WR – SF) had four carries between them while Trey Lance (QB – SF) managed to convert his one carry into a score.
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Michael Moore is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @DLF_Moore.
