- Wide receivers return: The Green Bay Packers‘ Jayden Reed and Washington Commanders‘ Noah Brown missed Weeks 3-13 due to injury but returned this week, immediately resuming their previous roles.
- The NFL embraces single-receiver sets: The Los Angeles Rams used more 13 personnel than any team has in a game in the last 20 years, while the Minnesota Vikings used nearly as much 13 and 22 personnel this week as they did in their first 13 weeks combined.
- Get PFF+ for 30% off: Use promo code HOLIDAY30 to unlock the PFF Player Prop Tool, Premium Stats, fantasy dashboards, the PFF Mock Draft Simulator, industry-leading fantasy rankings and much more — everything you need to win your season.
Estimated Reading Time: 18 minutes
Welcome to PFF’s NFL Usage and Production Report—your one-stop for the fantasy football utilization you actually need. This hub pulls together snap counts, routes run, targets per route run (TPRR), carry share, red-zone usage, alignment, ADOT, time to throw, situational splits, fantasy points and so much more, so you can quickly spot role changes and act before your league does. Use it for waiver wire decisions, buy-low/sell-high trades, rest-of-season (ROS) rankings context, dynasty stashes, DFS builds, and prop research.
Below you’ll find the top 10 most crucial usage and production takeaways. If you want more details on these top 10 players, or any other quarterback, running back, wide receiver or tight end in the league, you can jump into the interactive tool right below. It’s the most comprehensive fantasy tool, providing information on how a player is utilized, their performance, and how the defense responds to them. You can view by player, team or position, sort any column, filter by week and snaps, and switch between totals and percentages to see the full picture on anything you’re looking for. You’ll also find all of the information found in the usual recap articles.
1. Troy Franklin finishes fifth in snaps for Denver
Franklin remained in a rotation with Marvin Mims Jr., while not playing much in two-receiver sets.
Denver started the season with Courtland Sutton as their X receiver, Franklin as their second receiver, and Mims and Pat Bryant fighting for snaps in three-receiver sets. Sean Payton likes to have a run-blocking wide receiver, but Trent Sherfield Sr. fell out of favor with the team. He was released, and the team brought back their run-blocking wide receiver from last season, Lil’Jordan Humphrey.
Franklin seemed to be making a case for the top wide receiver spot in Denver, finishing with eight targets in five consecutive games from mid-October to mid-November. However, Bo Nix and Franklin weren’t able to connect on several of his targets, and he was held to 40 receiving yards or fewer in three of those five games. He gained 84 receiving yards in Week 11 against the Kansas City Chiefs, but Bryant also had his best game of the season against Kansas City.
Denver used the Week 12 bye to tinker with its wide receiver rotation, leading Bryant to play the second-most snaps in Week 13, while Franklin rotated with Bryant. This week, the situation became much worse because Denver had 27 plays in single-receiver sets. Humphrey was on the field for 17 of these plays, while Bryant and Sutton split the rest. Franklin played slightly more than Mims in 11 personnel, but Mims played more than Franklin in 12 personnel. This left Franklin playing only 19 snaps in this game.
He caught three passes for 11 yards, while Bryant caught four passes for 32 yards. Franklin is a player to drop in most leagues after his reduced role, while Bryant is an intriguing waiver-wire option.
2. The Pittsburgh Steelers make several changes at wide receiver
Pittsburgh turned to veteran receivers over its younger players while pushing for the playoffs.
The Steelers have generally used D.K. Metcalf as their X receiver, Calvin Austin III as a Z/slot hybrid, Roman Wilson as their typical third receiver in three-receiver sets at Z, and Ben Skowronek as an occasional slot receiver in three-receiver sets. Scotty Miller and Ke’Shawn Williams have also played at times. Metcalf is the only wide receiver who has seen any kind of consistent production. Austin is the only other wide receiver with double-digit receptions this year.
Pittsburgh claimed veteran Adam Thielen off waivers from the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday. Marquez Valdes-Scantling was elevated off the Steelers’ practice squad for the first time after starting the season with the Seattle Seahawks and playing with the San Francisco 49ers while they dealt with multiple wide receiver injuries. Valdes-Scantling had four years of experience catching passes from Aaron Rodgers when they both played for the Green Bay Packers. Miller was also active after being a healthy inactive last week.
To make room for these receivers, Wilson and Williams were both healthy inactives. Wilson’s being inactive was particularly noteworthy, considering he was a former third-round pick and had played over 50% of the offensive snaps in Week 11.
Metcalf remained the clear top wide receiver, and he performed well with seven receptions for 148 yards. The Steelers used Thielen in 12 personnel with Metcalf. The two also rotated as the primary receiver in 13 personnel. Valdes-Scantling led a two-man rotation with Thielen as the Z receiver in three-receiver sets, while Austin led a two-man rotation with Skowronek in the slot. The constant rotation meant none of the receivers, outside of Metcalf, played over 50% of the offensive snaps.
There is at least a chance Thielen can earn more playing time in 11 personnel and gain some chemistry to make him fantasy viable. However, there are only a few weeks left in the fantasy season, so there isn’t much time left for them to gain chemistry and the trust of fantasy managers to put him in fantasy starting lineups.
3. The Green Bay Packers reach full strength at wide receiver
