• Backfield committees rule the early slate: Tyler Allgeier, Chase Brown, Ronnie Rivers, Emanuel Wilson and Tank Bigsby all played more than expected, while Bucky Irving and Roschon Johnson experienced expected increases in playing time.

• Nico Collins re-gains the receiving yards crown: Collins had 50 more receiving yards than anyone else over the first three weeks. Malik Nabers took the lead after a 115-yard performance on Thursday Night Football, but Collins matched that with a 12-catch, 151-yard and one-touchdown performance.

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Estimated reading time: 20 minutes

PFF’s fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2024.

New Orleans Saints @ Atlanta Falcons

• Alvin Kamara: 19 carries, 77 yards, 1 touchdown, 7 receptions, 42 receiving yards
• Taysom Hill: 6 carries, 24 yards, 1 touchdown

Monitor Taysom Hill’s health: Hill suffered an abdomen injury in the middle of the second quarter and was later ruled out for the game.

Hill had a disappointingly small role in the Saints’ Week 1 blowout victory and then suffered a chest injury in Week 2, which caused him to miss Week 3.

He returned this week, and his role for the first four drives matched what many fantasy managers hoped for. He played in 15 of a possible 25 snaps, carrying the ball six times and running four routes. During the time when Hill was still available, Alvin Kamara ran seven times while Jamaal Williams carried the ball three times. Hill lined up twice at quarterback, three times at halfback, three times at fullback, once at tight end, five times in the slot and once out wide.

In standard leagues, Hill’s fantasy performance led to more fantasy points than all but 10 tight ends over the first three weeks. Assuming Hill is able to get healthy, he should be one of the top waiver-wire options at tight end. There will be some weeks where he doesn’t score much on offense, but that is true for the vast majority of tight ends in the league. The difference is the weeks where he does well like this week are better than most other tight ends at their best.

Tyler Allgeier cuts into Bijan Robinson’s role: Allgeier was playing just as much as he was last season in his best games.

It was clear on the second drive that Allgeier would be more involved than the first two weeks. Robinson had played 35 of a possible 36 snaps on the first two drives over the first three games, but Allgeier played all five snaps on the second drive this week.

Robinson took most of the remaining snaps in the first half and had six carries for 26 yards as of halftime. In the second half, this was a complete two-man rotation. Both players played significantly on every drive. Robinson played 14 snaps in the second half to Allgeier’s 13. Allgeier ran seven times for 53 yards while Robinson ran once for two yards.

On the season, Allgeier has a higher first down rate, more yards per carry, more yards after contact per carry, a higher avoided tackle rate and more carries of 10 or more yards despite having fewer attempts. It would not be surprising to see Allgeier continue to play significant snaps going forward. Allgeier should be picked up in any league where he’s available. Robinson can remain in fantasy starting lineups, but if this kind of split continues, he will not be worth the first-round pick everyone spent to add him.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Alvin Kamara has played over 80% of the Saints’ offensive snaps in back-to-back weeks. He only hit more than 80% once in 2023 and once in 2022. He accomplished this despite being listed as questionable due to a hip and rib injury.
• Rashid Shaheed reached double-digit targets for the first time in his career. His target rate has exceeded 20% in all four games this season, which is something he only achieved five times all of last season.
• Undrafted rookie Mason Tipton set a career-high in offensive snaps at 29 after playing double-digit snaps each of the first three weeks. He’s the clear third receiver and would be the player to target if Chris Olave or Rashid Shaheed suffers an injury.
• Charlie Woerner continues to cut into Kyle Pitts’ playing time. Pitts only ran a route on 64.7% of the Falcons’ passing plays, and his playing time has decreased slightly each week. His target share has been below 14% in three-of-four games.

Cincinnati Bengals @ Carolina Panthers

• Chase Brown: 15 carries, 80 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 receptions, 12 receiving yards
• Diontae Johnson: 7 receptions, 83 yards, 1 touchdown

Chuba Hubbard sees an increased role: The Panthers lead running back played 74% of Carolina’s offensive snaps after playing between 54-58% in each of the first three weeks.

His role was fairly similar to late last season when Hubbard was the feature back in the Panthers backfield. He ran 18 times for 104 yards and a touchdown with four receptions for 17 receiving yards, making this one of the best performances of his career.

Jonathon Brooks is eligible to start practicing after this game but considering he has never practiced with the team, we can expect Hubbard to remain the feature back for at least the foreseeable future. Once Brooks is able to take the field, it wouldn’t be surprising if he takes Miles Sanders’ snaps before he starts cutting into Hubbard’s workload. It is worth mentioning that Sanders also played well despite his reduced role, averaging 5.3 yards per carry and catching three passes.

Xavier Legette shines without Adam Thielen: Legette rarely left the field with Thielen on injured reserve.

Before Thielen’s injury last week, Legette had established himself as one of the two primary receivers in two-receiver sets but wasn’t playing enough in three-receiver sets. After Thielen was injured last week, Legette was an every-down player.

That continued this week, he was a main wide receiver regardless of personnel grouping. He was given a few plays off throughout the game — Jalen Coker was his primary backup. In 12 personnel, Legette played nine snaps and Diontae Johnson played eight out of a possible 11.

Legette caught six-of-10 targets for 66 yards and a touchdown. This was already a better fantasy performance than anything we’ve seen from Jonathan Mingo, who was a clear third option in the offense. Legette is a clear waiver-wire target as long as the Panthers keep needing to throw this much.

Chase Brown increases his role: Brown and Zack Moss split carries with 15 each. Brown averaged two more yards per carry than Moss.

The only part of the Bengals’ running back rotation that has stayed consistent each week is that Moss is the primary passing-down back. Moss took all of the two-minute drill snaps and most of the third-down snaps. Brown only has two pass-blocking snaps this season, so this part of the rotation seems unlikely to change.

The early-down role has shifted throughout the season. In Week 1, we saw a near-even split between the two. In both Weeks 2 and 3, Moss played two times more snaps than Moss. This week, the two were back to a near-even split.

The big difference this week was Brown saw more of the short-yardage and goal-line work. Moss dominated both of these situations in each of the first three games. This led to both a three-yard touchdown run and a one-yard touchdown run by Brown.

Moss remains the running back to roster of the two. If anything, Brown is a sell-high option because Moss could easily regain the goal-line work in future weeks. It’s also possible the Bengals return to being one of the most dominant offenses in the league, in which case both running backs would have value.

Don’t overreact to Erick All: The Bengals rookie caught four passes for 28 yards and set a career-high in snaps, but this was game script-related.

The Bengals’ tight end rotation has remained the same all season. Mike Gesicki has played the majority of Cincinnati’s snaps in 11 personnel, while All and Drew Sample have played nearly all of the 12 personnel snaps together. That remained true in this game, but the Bengals ran a lot more plays out of 12 personnel because they had a lead and maintained it.

While All has better targets per route and yards per route run than Gesicki, there has been no indication that All is cutting into Gesicki’s playing time yet.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Diontae Johnson showed up on the injury report on Thursday due to a groin injury and was questionable. He played his usual role for most of the game, but at one point, he fell to the ground in pain and was taken out of the game. He was able to return quickly, but his health will be worth monitoring throughout the week.
• Mike Boone was the third-string running back in Week 1, but he’s been inactive in Weeks 2 and 4.
• Both Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins played less than usual, but this was largely due to the team running out the clock in the fourth quarter. The two combined for 20 snaps in the fourth quarter while the team ran 21 plays.
• Bengals backup tight end Tanner Hudson missed his third consecutive game due to a knee injury. He was a limited participant in practice on Friday after not participating in the six previous practices that were reported on.

Los Angeles Rams @ Chicago Bears

• D’Andre Swift: 16 carries, 93 yards, 1 touchdown, 7 receptions, 72 receiving yards
• Kyren Williams: 19 carries, 94 yards, 1 touchdown, 4 receptions, 10 receiving yards

Bears become a two-man backfield: Roschon Johnson played more snaps as expected, but D’Andre Swift had his best game as a Bear.

Johnson took over as the primary third-down back as well as the two-minute drill back last week after Travis Homer landed on injured reserve. There were reports that Johnson would play even more this week after Swift’s ineffectiveness in the first two weeks.

This week, despite the reports, Swift remained the clear running back on early downs. Swift took all of the early-down snaps in the first quarter. The two received a near-even split in the second and third quarters — 12 snaps for Swift and 10 for Johnson. In the fourth quarter, it was all Swift outside of kneel downs. Not only did Swift keep a clear hold on the early-down role, but he also played the majority of two-minute drill snaps. After this game, it is a bit safer to put Swift in fantasy starting lineups again.

Despite Swift playing so well, Johnson did play more at Khalil Herbert‘s expense. Herbert had been the primary backup on early downs and the short-yardage back, but Johnson took over in those situations. Johnson is still worth a waiver-wire add. The combination of being a primary backup on early downs, the receiving down back and the goal-line back could be valuable, and the situation could remain fluid.

Keenan Allen returns: Allen returned to his normal role as the Bears’ slot receiver, but he was mostly used in three-receiver sets.

Allen missed the last two weeks due to a heel injury but returned this week. He played 100% of Chicago’s offensive snaps in 11 personnel, as did D.J. Moore and Rome Odunze. In two-receiver sets, Moore played 16 snaps while Odunze played 12 and Allen played six out of a possible 17. Moore was the Bears’ only wide receiver in 13 personnel, while Tyler Scott took the two snaps during kneel downs.

While none of the Bears receivers had a good week outside of Moore, who scored a touchdown, this was generally good news for Odunze that he kept most of the 12 personnel snaps. Odunze could be considered a buy-low option because there was a chance Odunze would never win the 12 personnel snaps this season.

Jordan Whittington leads the Rams in routes: The Rams wide receiver rotation continues to evolve without Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp.

According to Jay Glazer, Kupp will miss at least the next two weeks while Nacua will miss at least the next month. Since their injuries, Tyler Johnson and Jordan Whittington initially joined Demarcus Robinson as the top three wide receivers.

Last week, Tutu Atwell became one of the top receivers while Whittington and Johnson split time. This week, Whittington and Atwell were clearly ahead of Johnson, who just gave the other three an occasional break.

While Robinson was the starter to begin the season, Atwell is the top waiver option. For the second straight week, he was the clear leader in receiving yards thanks to his big plays. Whittington also had a breakout game and should also be considered. Both Atwell and Whittington have target rates above 22% this season, while Robinson is at 14.4%. It wouldn’t be surprising if Robinson does not remain a clear starter once everyone is healthy so Atwell and Whittington can be given opportunities to contribute.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Cole Kmet’s role is back to what it was last season in terms of playing time and routes run, but his targets per route have only exceeded 15% once this season. Last season, he averaged more than 20%.
• Kyren Williams was substituted out slightly more than usual this week. Ronnie Rivers played nine consecutive snaps late in the second quarter. There probably isn’t much to read into this, outside of Rivers still being ahead of Blake Corum on the depth chart.
• Colby Parkinson remains among the league leaders in routes run for a tight end and is a fine waiver-wire option with bye weeks hitting for a relatively high floor option.

Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers

Coming soon!

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Houston Texans

Coming soon!

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Indianapolis Colts

• Josh Downs: 8 receptions, 82 yards, 1 touchdown
• Jonathan Taylor: 21 carries, 88 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 receptions, 20 receiving yards

Coming soon!

Denver Broncos @ New York Jets

Coming soon!

Philadelphia Eagles @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers

• Mike Evans: 8 receptions, 94 yards, 1 touchdown
• Bucky Irving: 10 carries, 49 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 reception, 6 receiving yards

Coming soon!

Washington Commanders @ Arizona Cardinals

Coming soon!

New England Patriots @ San Francisco 49ers

Coming soon!

Kansas City Chiefs @ Los Angeles Chargers

Coming soon!

Cleveland Browns @ Las Vegas Raiders

Coming soon!

Buffalo Bills @ Baltimore Ravens

Coming soon!

Table Notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.