NFL Snap Counts Report For Week 4 Fantasy Football: Concern For Omarion Hampton

It’s a long season.

Patience is required, especially when it comes to backfields around the league. Week 3 saw some really encouraging signs from a few backfields, while a key injury drastically altered one running back room in the AFC.

Let’s highlight some of the most notable snap reports from this past weekend.

Week 4 Snap Counts Report for Fantasy Football

Jeremiyah Love Has Arrived

It was only a matter of time.

The Cardinals’ early-season usage of Jeremiyah Love, a running back they selected with the third overall selection of this year’s draft, has been head-scratching to say the least. Through the first two weeks, Love had logged just 43% of the snaps and handled 43% of the rush attempts. Somehow he was the clear 1B in this backfield.

That all changed on Sunday.

Love finally cemented himself as the Cardinals’ workhorse in Week 3, carrying the ball 21 times for 90 yards, while adding 5 catches for 19 yards and a touchdown through the air. The rookie handled 26 of Arizona’s 32 running back touches on the day, while logging 63% of the snaps. We did see Tyler Allgeier log a handful of snaps when the Cardinals were inside the 5-yard line, but at least one of those came when Arizona was in hurry-up mode chasing points in the fourth quarter. Overall, 26 touches, 22 routes and 78% of the team rush attempts is elite, top-12 RB usage for Love. And with the talent obviously not a question, the only thing we were waiting for was the volume. HC Mike LaFleur fully committed to his talented rookie running back, while simultaneously slamming shut any potential buy-low window in the fantasy football world.

The Miami Dolphins Backfield

Already the worst offense in the NFL, Miami lost De’Von Achane, its best player and one of the most exciting players in the league, for the season with a torn ACL. With Achane leaving Sunday’s game early, the Dolphins turned to Ollie Gordon, who played a massive role, logging 82% of the snaps, while touching the ball 20 times. The efficiency wasn’t great (41 yards on 17 carries), but Gordon did convert a goal-line carry into a touchdown, something he’s very capable of.

You know, should the Dolphins ever get into scoring position.

Gordon is going to be one of the most popular waiver wire adds of the week, and while he’s absolutely worth adding (especially if you just lost Achane), I have a bit more trepidation. For starters, Jaylen Wright was inactive for this game and is considered day-to-day. HC Jeff Hafley said that all running backs are going to have a role in Achane’s absence, hinting toward a committee. And secondly, we were already questioning the fantasy upside of Achane, one of the best running backs in the league, in this dreadful Dolphins offense. So why should we be excited about two players who aren’t close to the same talent in that same offense?

It also wouldn’t shock me to see Malik Washington, who carried the ball twice last week, see two or three carries each game from here on out. Given the fact that Wright is still banged up, I’d lean toward Gordon slightly leading the backfield for now, while seeing the goal-line work. But I absolutely wouldn’t view this situation as one to empty the FAAB.

Cam Skattebo On The Rise?

Maybe it was the fact that they were playing in rainy and windy conditions. Or perhaps it had to do with Jaxson Dart being sidelined.

But regardless, it was great to see the Giants once again commit to Cam Skattebo.

Through the first two weeks of the year, Skattebo’s usage was a little underwhelming, logging 61% of the snaps and 58% of the team’s rush attempts. Devin Singletary was mixing in more than the fantasy community would like, while we even saw Najee Harris take a few goal-line carries from Skattebo last week.

But after seeing that Singletary was a healthy scratch on Sunday, my eyebrows raised.

Skattebo finally saw the workload we were expecting, carrying the ball 20 times, while adding 3 receptions. He logged 78% of the snaps, while also seeing 19% of the targets. It’s difficult to forget Skattebo’s rookie year trajectory before his season ended due to injury. From Weeks 4-7 last year, Skattebo handled 60% of the carries, 85% of the short-down-and-distance snaps, 78% of the carries from inside the 5-yard line and 69% of the overall snaps. During that same span, he averaged 18.8 carries, 74 rushing yards, 4.3 targets, 33 receptions and 18.7 PPR points per game, good for RB8 in fantasy.

Hopefully this usage continues in Week 4.

Time To Move Omarion Hampton Down The Ranks

You know, the Chargers have pissed off a lot of people this year.

And it’s only been three weeks.

The perpetually-hyped Chargers have let so many people down so far this season, whether it’s fans of the team or fantasy players. Justin Herbert and Mike McDaniel haven’t taken off like we expected, while the backfield is suddenly a lot less enticing.

Omarion Hampton struggled against the Bills on Sunday, rushing for just 56 yards on 15 carries. But much more concerning was the playing time, as Hampton was part of a three-man committee at running back. Hampton logged 42% of the snaps, while Keaton Mitchell played just three fewer snaps, touching the ball 11 times on 26 snaps. Hell, we even saw Kimani Vidal, who played 10 total snaps from Weeks 1-2, play 17 snaps in this game, leading the backfield in both two-minute and third-down snaps.

Oh, and did we mention this Chargers offense is a mess right now?

Not only is Hampton playing on a struggling offense with sudden competition in the backfield, but he’s seeing virtually zero usage in the pass game. Hampton caught zero passes against the Bills, his second zero-catch game of the young season. He ran just six routes on 38 dropbacks, a massive step backward from his promising early-season pass-game involvement as a rookie. From Weeks 3-5 last year (before his injury), Hampton ran 62% of the routes, sporting a TPRR of 20%. He’ll still lead this team in carries most weeks, while remaining the favorite for goal-line work (should the Chargers get that far down the field). But OC Mike McDaniel loves Mitchell, who might just be a better fit for this outside run scheme.

The good news? It’s not like the Chargers schedule gets unbelievably difficult over the next month or so.

That … that was sarcasm.