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 saw an interesting running back situation unfold in the Cardinals vs. Bengals matchup last week when James Conner went down. Antonio Gibson saw strong work in the passing game while the Commanders were getting their doors blown off by the Bears.
Also, Dalvin Cook reached official “down bad” territory, while another former stud has quickly become a matchup-based RB2 in Tennessee.
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 4.
NOTE: Snaps and route data courtesy of FantasyPoints.com and PFF.com.
Emari Demercado (ARI)
A knee injury to James Conner forced him from Week 5’s contest against the Bengals and will leave him sidelined for at least the next four weeks. Rookie Emari Demercado emerged to play an unprecedented 77.2 percent of his team’s snaps while totaling 57 yards from scrimmage and one touchdown on 11 touches.
Fantasy managers went bonkers over Demercado on waivers this week, in some cases bidding the house on the rookie UDFA. But was it worth it?
The case for Demercado is strong. The Cardinals rank 30th in early-down pass rate (46.1 percent) and are throwing five percent under their expected pass rate. He ran a 4.44 40-yard dash at the combine and is an exceptional athlete, as Kyle Dvorchak pointed out in his latest waiver wire column. And he’s running behind an offensive line ranked second in yards before contact per attempt (2.62).
Former Rotoworlder John Daigle also pointed out some interesting third-down snap data between Demercado and Keaontay Ingram earlier this week.
When Ingram does return from his neck injury, there’s little guarantee the Cardinals will force a running back with a career 1.9 YPC into a meaningful role if Demercado is playing well.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Jonathan Gannon through the first five weeks of the season, it’s that he isn’t concerned about running a player into the ground. Through the first four weeks of the season, Conner handled 71 percent of the running back snaps and 56.9 percent of the team’s rush attempts.
It’s fair to think Demercado could dominate snaps in a backfield lacking significant talent behind its RB1.
Antonio Gibson (WSH)
I’ve spent the last two seasons getting repeatedly burnt by Antonio Gibson. The former third-round pick, who totaled 1,331 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns in his second season, has surrendered significant ground to Brian Robinson and has managed just 25 touches for 186 scoreless yards this season. His three fumbles have only added to his struggles.
In the Commanders’ 40-20 blowout loss to the Bears on Thursday Night Football, Gibson saw a season-high six targets, which he converted into four receptions for 64 yards — the second-most receiving yards of any player on Washington’s roster that week.
Gibson entered the day with just 10 targets, and a negative game script certainly favored him in this scenario. Still, his overall usage in the passing game continues to be better than Brian Robinson’s.
While neither is dominating in the receiving game, here is how the two have been utilized thus far.
| Player | Routes | Targets | Target Share | Receptions | Yards |
| Antonio Gibson | 112 | 16 | 8.4% | 12 | 132 |
| Brian Robinson | 61 | 11 | 5.8% | 9 | 88 |
I’m not getting overly excited about Gibson at this time, but I continue to stash him as the handcuff to Robinson and am hopeful a role in the passing game can continue to emerge. With all due respect to Robinson, any hope of him being a viable option in the passing game is a pipe dream. While his 88 receiving yards look good on the surface, nearly half of them came in Week 2 against the Broncos, when he caught two passes for 42 yards, benefiting from two screen passes against a broken defense. In that game, Gibson was also on the receiving end of a 36-yard screen pass.
Washington’s defense has surprisingly been one of the worst in the league through five weeks. A 166-pound cornerback has surprisingly been unable to slow receivers who outweigh him by 40-plus pounds, but that’s just the start of their struggles, as they’ve also gotten no push on run defense.
Should this continue, negative game scripts will continue to be a theme for the already pass-happy Commanders, which could benefit Gibson, as we saw in Week 5.
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Tyjae Spears (TEN)
Tyjae Spears out-snapping Derrick Henry has become somewhat of a theme for the Titans early on. While head coach Mike Vrabel would love to establish the run with his 29-year-old bruiser, poor offensive performances and negative game scripts have made that difficult through five weeks.
When the Titans are winning, things are great for Henry. In wins over the Chargers and Bengals, Henry has rushed 47 times for 202 yards and two touchdowns. Henry has out-snapped Spears 83-55 when leading the Titans to victory, and his 4.3 YPC in those games is well above the 3.8 YPC he’s averaged on the season.
However, in the Titans’ three losses, Spears has out-snapped Henry 91-80 and is averaging 8.5 fantasy points per game in those losses to Henry’s 8.4. Spears has also seen 14 of his 19 targets come in those losses, which carries far more weight than Henry’s empty-calorie touches in defeat.
It’s unlikely to happen, but Vrabel would be wise to pull a complete 180 and lean more heavily on Spears in the future. Outside of Henry dominating the raw counting numbers due to volume, Spears has been the more efficient back on nearly every level.
Henry has looked like a shell of his once-dominant self throughout much of the season, struggling to break tackles or rip off long gains. It doesn’t help that the Titans are allowing the ninth-lowest YBCO/ATT (1.02) on the season, but that has slowed Spears the way it has Henry.
With 13 weeks left in the regular season, a lot can change. But the Titans’ offense currently ranks 26th in points per game (17.6) and 24th in yards per game (293.6). For a team that entered the year with a 6.5 projected win total, negative game scripts should continue to be a common theme for them, suggesting busier days for Spears could be ahead.
For those considering Spears as an RB3/flex play in Week 6, you may be interested in knowing the Titans are currently four-point underdogs in London over on Bet MGM. Until he proves us otherwise, Henry is little more than a matchup-based RB2 the rest of the way.
Dalvin Cook (NYJ)
The Jets signed Dalvin Cook to a one-year, $7 million contract this offseason. A running back who had already hit a noticeable decline in 2022 was one of many players Aaron Rodgers wanted on the Jets as the team prepared for a Super Bowl run in 2023, but just four plays into the season, that run came to an end.
Now, Cook is just another underperforming player on an offense that ranks 24th in points per game and hands out game balls to offensive coordinators who narrowly escape games against one of the worst teams in the league.
It’s all so very sad.
Entering Week 5, Cook was second on the Jets with 30 rushes for 74 scoreless yards, averaging a dismal 2.5 YPC. For comparison, the running back people thought would start slow, Breece Hall, had 32 carries for 210 yards (6.6 YPC).
In Week 5, things got even worse for Cook. In addition to the Jets ramping Hall up (22-177-1), the team also gave Cook a back seat to Michael Carter.
| Player | Snap Share |
| Breece Hall | 51.6% |
| Michael Carter | 30.8% |
| Dalvin Cook | 16.1% |
Not only did Cook play well behind Carter, but the 16.9 percent snap share he received was the lowest of any game he’s appeared in for his career. Cook’s six carries were second on the Jets in the team’s win, but he ran four routes to Carter’s 17 and ranks 37th of 41 qualified running backs in rush yards over expected (-53).
Cook’s overall lack of efficiency is enough for us to question how much value he has as a handcuff to Hall the rest of the way. While we’d still expect him to draw early-down touches if Hall were to miss time, rolling out a back who has rivaled Rhamondre Stevenson and AJ Dillon in efficiency doesn’t sound like a winning strategy.
Those brave enough to drop Cook will see him scooped up by another manager due to name recognition, but at this point, I’d prefer to stash Michael Carter as the higher-upside handcuff to Hall.
Week 5 Snap Share
| Player | Team | Total Snaps | Team Snaps | Snap % |
| Kyren Williams | LA | 47 | 55 | 85.5% |
| Travis Etienne | JAX | 68 | 82 | 82.9% |
| Zack Moss | IND | 49 | 61 | 80.3% |
| Joe Mixon | CIN | 61 | 79 | 77.2% |
| Emari Demercado | ARZ | 44 | 57 | 77.2% |
| David Montgomery | DET | 45 | 60 | 75.0% |
| Christian McCaffrey | SF | 48 | 67 | 71.6% |
| Tony Pollard | DAL | 34 | 49 | 69.4% |
| Khalil Herbert | CHI | 42 | 64 | 65.6% |
| James Cook | BUF | 34 | 54 | 63.0% |
| Alvin Kamara | NO | 44 | 70 | 62.9% |
| D’Andre Swift | PHI | 49 | 78 | 62.8% |
| Bijan Robinson | ATL | 46 | 74 | 62.2% |
| Samaje Perine | DEN | 35 | 57 | 61.4% |
| Derrick Henry | TEN | 35 | 58 | 60.3% |
| Raheem Mostert | MIA | 32 | 54 | 59.3% |
| Isiah Pacheco | KC | 37 | 64 | 57.8% |
| Dameon Pierce | HST | 33 | 58 | 56.9% |
| Matt Breida | NYG | 38 | 68 | 55.9% |
| Najee Harris | PIT | 36 | 65 | 55.4% |
| Justice Hill | BLT | 37 | 67 | 55.2% |
| Alexander Mattison | MIN | 36 | 68 | 52.9% |
| Tyjae Spears | TEN | 30 | 58 | 51.7% |
| Breece Hall | NYJ | 32 | 62 | 51.6% |
| Antonio Gibson | WAS | 34 | 66 | 51.5% |
| Rhamondre Stevenson | NE | 26 | 51 | 51.0% |
| Jaylen Warren | PIT | 32 | 65 | 49.2% |
| Chuba Hubbard | CAR | 32 | 65 | 49.2% |
| Devon Achane | MIA | 26 | 54 | 48.1% |
| Miles Sanders | CAR | 31 | 65 | 47.7% |
| Ezekiel Elliott | NE | 23 | 51 | 45.1% |
| Gus Edwards | BLT | 29 | 67 | 43.3% |
| Eric Gray | NYG | 29 | 68 | 42.6% |
| Tyler Allgeier | ATL | 31 | 74 | 41.9% |
| Brian Robinson | WAS | 25 | 66 | 37.9% |
| Kenneth Gainwell | PHI | 29 | 78 | 37.2% |
| Kendre Miller | NO | 25 | 70 | 35.7% |
| Jaleel McLaughlin | DEN | 19 | 57 | 33.3% |
| Michael Carter | NYJ | 20 | 62 | 30.8% |