Snap Counts: Michael Gallup, Damien Williams, Ronald Jones, more potential fantasy breakouts, waiver pickups

Billy Heyen

Snap Counts: Michael Gallup, Damien Williams, Ronald Jones, more potential fantasy breakouts, waiver pickups image

Things change quickly in the NFL. A week ago, we were touting the snap count usage of Ronald Jones and fantasy football owners rushed to the waiver wire to pick him up. He's back in our snap count analysis this week, but not because the positive trend continued. You probably weren't overly interested in our Dawson Knox and Jonnu Smith touts last week, but they, along with Diontae Johnson, continued to partake in their increased roles. As we head into Week 6 and you prepare waiver claims, FAAB bids and start 'em, sit 'em decisions, we're breaking down five specific snap count situations to help your fantasy team.

We start with Dallas, where Michael Gallup is a lot less likely to disappoint than earlier tout Devin Smith was. Admittedly, Gallup is owned in the majority of leagues, but I'd imagine some of his owners don't even realize the type of player they have with him. He already broke out in Week 5, and he may not slow down. In Kansas City, Damien Williams proved to be the first-string tailback in his return from injury.

WEEK 6 NON-PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

Then there's Jones, rivaled by Peyton Barber yet again. For a team under Bruce Arians that's supposed to be pass first, second and third, it's been quite the frustrating Tampa Bay RB situation for fantasy owners in 2019. That's rivaled somewhat by San Francisco, where Kyle Shanahan is also perfectly happy to split carries among three backs, and now he has offseason signing Tevin Coleman back and healthy.

Last but not least, we take a look at Gerald Everett. He was touted in our 32-team breakdown last week, but he gets his own section here this week. Seven catches and 136 yards in a prime-time game will do that for you. And we think that's the real deal. 

WEEK 6 DFS LINEUPS:
Y! cash | Y! GPP | FD cash | FD GPPDK cash | DK GPP

As we've said each week, snap counts aren't the be all, end all of fantasy football. They're just another tool you should be able to use to gain an edge. After all, players need to be on the field to produce.

Check out our 32-team breakdown of Week 5 snap counts here.

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Cowboys Snap Counts: Michael Gallup is a breakout candidate

There was chatter that in Gallup's return from injury in Week 5, he'd be limited. But he played 62 snaps, just one fewer than Amari Cooper. The Cowboys felt good enough about Gallup's health to leave his understudy Devin Smith inactive, and Gallup rewarded Dallas with seven catches for 113 yards and a long touchdown.

Calling Gallup a sleeper might be a bit misleading -- maybe he should be called a breakout candidate. He's owned in 67 percent of Yahoo leagues, so the first step is to pick him up if you're one of those other 33 percent where he's on the waiver wire. But Gallup is more than just a flier to pick up.

Gallup showed the deep threat he can be on his touchdown against the Packers. But unlike Smith, who was a one-trick pony in Gallup's absence, Gallup can do more than that. In Week 2, he caught six passes for 68 yards -- he didn't a long ball to be effective. Before that, in Week 1, Gallup caught seven passes for 158 yards. In neither of those weeks did Gallup play as high a percentage of snaps as he did in Week 5. Game flow is a part of that, as Dallas won big in Weeks 1 and 2 and trailed in Week 5, but he Gallup is still proving his worth.

Heading into a Week 6 matchup with the lowly Jets, Gallup is at worst a WR3 for fantasy owners. If a team had him in their WR2 spot due to byes or injuries, that wouldn't even be too absurd. He's always going to have a bit of boom-or-bust to his game because he runs the deeper routes while Amari Cooper more frequently works underneath. Gallup's shown in his three healthy 2019 games, though, that he can be consistent, too. When your worst outing through three games played is six catches for 68 yards, that's a player that should have everyone on notice.

WEEK 6 PPR RANKINGS: Running back | Wide receiverTight end

Chiefs Snap Counts: Damien Williams vs. LeSean McCoy

McCoy and Darrel Williams split snaps when Damien Williams was out with injury. In a weird case of irony, McCoy and Darrel split snaps again in Week 5, this time backing up Damien: McCoy was on the field for 14 plays, while Darrel was out there for 13. Damien led the way with a KC RB-high 35 snaps in Sunday's loss to the Colts.

The touches reflected that split, too. McCoy had just two targets (both of which he caught) and no carries. Damien had nine carries and caught three-of-four targets. For what it's worth, Darrel didn't get a look in his time on offense. 

This is a more drastic split than Week 2, when Damien saw 39 snaps to McCoy's 31. It seems the bigger issue for McCoy might be the usage of Darrel in place of him in spots, after the youngster was effective with Damien out. 

Going forward, McCoy owners will need to monitor this and see if there's any swings in his direction. We would have figured that a game plan that could favor McCoy would be a rushing one, but then why didn't he get any carries on Sunday? If there's another week or two more of this, McCoy becomes nothing more than a speculative hold while Damien is healthy. Damien, on the other hand, looks like a solid RB2/FLEX option, at least in PPR formats.

WEEK 6: Waiver pickups | FAAB planner | Trade valuesSnap counts

Buccaneers Snap Counts: Ronald Jones vs. Peyton Barber

I laughed when I saw the Tampa Bay running back snap counts: Ronald Jones 20, Peyton Barber 20, Dare Ogunbowale 19. Ogunbowale has hovered around that number all season as the passing-down specialist. But Jones and Barber have fluctuated back and forth, and it's ironic that a week after everyone was ready to be all-in on Jones, their snaps were equal.

Carries went one in favor of Jones, who had nine to Barber's eight. Jones had 35 yards to Barber's 32, while Jones caught two passes and Barber snagged one. There doesn't really seem to be a gameflow rhyme or reason to why this happens, aside from Jones being the clear option when Tampa is trying to run out the clock in Week 4. Bruce Arians is obviously just messing with fantasy owners.

Player Week 1 snaps Week 2 snaps Week 3 snaps Week 4 snaps Week 5 snaps
Peyton Barber 25 42 28 19 20
Ronald Jones 22 8 23 36 20
Dare Ogunbowale 27 16 19 21 19

As you can see, Barber's been the favorite in three weeks, Jones in Week 4 and the recent tie. Production hasn't really dictated that aside from Week 2 when Barber was having ground success against the Panthers and was the obvious favorite. 

I wish I had a real answer to what's going on here. So do all Jones and Barber owners, I'd imagine. The best advice is to hold them because this is a good enough offense that if either were to start getting 70 percent of the snaps, they'd be fantasy starters. But in the weeks ahead, it's hard to start either, at least to start either with an expectation of a solid game.

MORE WEEK 6 DFS: Values | Stacks | Lineup Builder

Redskins Snap Counts: Is Adrian Peterson a Week 6 bust?

There are two sets of numbers that make Peterson look like a potential Week 6 bust. The first are his snaps, which admittedly are game-flow dependent. On a team like the Redskins that has trailed a lot, the fact that Chris Thompson has outsnapped AP so thoroughly can trace back to the deficits. So, you'd think that a Week 6 meeting with the Dolphins could change that.

Sure, Peterson's snap share might look more like Week 3, when he had 37 snaps to Thompson's 40, as opposed to Week 5, when Thompson doubled him up, 32-16. That means Peterson might have the 12 carries he had in Week 3 as opposed to the seven he had in Week 5.

There's a bigger problem here: AP might be washed up. His 1,000-yard season in 2018 was a total surprise because we thought he already might be. It's looking more and more like an aberration, as Peterson has rushed 40 times for 108 yards in 2019 (2.7 yards per carry). He's only found the end zone once. His longest carry is 10 yards.

The Dolphins should provide one or two more scoring opportunities than the Redskins are used to. But will Peterson even be on the field when they come? And if he is, is he still good enough to cash it in? There are viable reasons to play Peterson in Week 6. There are also plenty of reasons to be concerned.

Rams Snap Counts: Is Gerald Everett the deal deal?

After Everett got a 58 snaps in Week 4, we touted him in our 32-team breakdown. He made us look smart with a seven-catch, 136-yard performance in Week 5 where he looked strong during and after the catch. He again had 58 snaps (this time on less total snaps), again outsnapping the recently extended Tyler Higbee.

What intrigued me even more was Everett's snaps relative to Cooper Kupp, who was on the field for 48 plays. Everett also played more than Brandin Cooks, who dealt with an in-game injury. Everett appears to be in the very good graces of Sean McVay.

To answer that bold question above: Yes, I think he's the real deal. I don't know if he'll have more than the 136 yards he had against Seattle in a game this season, but that was a high bar to set. In an explosive offense, his playing time will set him up with decent opportunities to score a touchdown.

Buyer beware: There will be weeks when Everett is quiet. There are too many weapons on the Rams for that not to be true. But now we know that when Everett makes noise, he's pretty darn loud.

49ers Snap Counts: Tevin Coleman vs. Matt Breida vs. Raheem Mostert

Coleman's return from injury meant Jeff Wilson Jr. was inactive, so Coleman filled the role of red-zone running back for the 49ers and turned that into a touchdown run. He finished with 97 yards, while Breida ran for 114 and also scored on an 83-yard run. Mostert was used more as a change-of-pace back, receiving seven carries but not being targeted. 

After Mostert out-targeted Breida with Coleman out, Breida was the only one of the three to be thrown to on Monday night. As we saw with Coleman out, Kyle Shanahan likes using all three of his active running backs whenever he can, which can make them tough plays for fantasy owners.

Monday's game provided the blueprint for how Breida and Coleman can both be useful fantasy pieces, especially during bye-week season. Even Mostert should see seven-plus touches per game, enough to make him rosterable in deeper leagues (especially because of how his usage would increase if there was an injury). 

Worth noting here also is that 49ers' fullback Kyle Juszczyk left Monday night's game early on a cart with a leg injury. ESPN's Booger McFarland said multiple times on the broadcast that Juszczyk is the most important piece of San Francisco's offense not named Jimmy Garoppolo. If nothing else, it's a small knock to the 49ers' running backs if Juszczyk is forced to miss extended time.

For snap count reactions for every team, click here.

Billy Heyen