Nobody was missing from Jacksonville’s backfield in week 5, and Bhayshul Tuten’s carry share went from 56% to 81% anyway. He played 68% of the snaps against an average of 53% over his previous three games, and turned 25 touches and targets into 10.6 half-PPR points. That is a bigger role than the scoring shows. The numbers do not say why it moved.
Roles that moved
Houston’s backfield moved too. Woody Marks played 85% of the snaps against a 43% average, and his carry share went from 33% to 56%, on 19 touches and targets for 10.5 points. Nobody sat out beside him, but David Montgomery, who had averaged 57% of the snaps, played 14% with a carry share down from 46% to 19%, and he is listed Out today. Montgomery is hurt, not benched.
Braelon Allen’s jump has a plain explanation. He played 86% of the snaps against a 59% average, his carry share 47% to 75%, with Breece Hall, at 56% of the snaps before this week, out and listed Out today. Allen had 28 touches and targets for 18.1 points.
Germie Bernard went from 49% of Pittsburgh’s snaps to 92% and from a 10% target share to 30%, with Michael Pittman (73% of the snaps before this week, now on injured reserve) and Ben Skowronek (17%, listed Questionable) both out. He led the receivers with 9 targets, while DK Metcalf, who had averaged 7.7 targets a game, had 4. Bernard finished with 10 touches and targets for 11.4 points.
In Cincinnati, Ja’Marr Chase led the receivers with 10 targets, and Tee Higgins, at 11 targets a game coming in, had 4. Andrei Iosivas, on injured reserve, and Mitchell Tinsley, both at 53% of the snaps before this week, did not play. Dallas had no such absence: George Pickens led with 13 targets and CeeDee Lamb, who had averaged 12.7 targets a game, had 5.
Two more drops are injuries. T.J. Hockenson played 3% of Minnesota’s snaps after a 79% average, and KC Concepcion played 16% of Cleveland’s after 81%; each went from a 25% target share to 3%, and both are listed Out today.
Work that has not paid
Four players have usage worth more than their scoring, measured over their last two games. Daniel Jones’s usage has been worth about 19.4 points a game and he has scored 9.5 a game. Tyson Bagent’s has been worth 14 a game against 5 scored. Jacoby Brissett’s has been worth 26.3 a game against 17.6, and his Arizona teammate Michael Wilson’s has been worth 16.9 a game against 9.2, on 11 catches from 20 targets across those two games.
The heaviest loads
Jahmyr Gibbs had the most work and the most points: 31 touches and targets, 25 carries and 6 targets, on 70% of the snaps for 35.2 points. Aaron Jones had 28 on 87% of the snaps, 25 carries and 3 targets, for 17.2, and he is listed Questionable today. Allen also had 28, from 24 carries and 4 targets. Through the air, Puka Nacua saw 24 targets, 44% of the Rams’, and caught 17 for 138 yards. Malik Nabers saw 20, 38% of the Giants’, and caught 11 for 121. Pickens’s 13 were 31% of Dallas’s, and he caught 9 for 130.
Arizona threw 5.5 points of pass rate above what the situation asked, a 56% pass rate on 94 plays, the most in the league. Miami went the other way by 15.8, a 39% pass rate on 80 plays.
The full table, every player and every share, is on the usage page. The two-week moves, including the ones too small to write up here, are on the trends page.
Written every Tuesday from the week’s usage numbers by the same system that builds the rankings.
Sources: nflverse weekly stats and snap counts, half-PPR, through week 5.