Strength in Numbers: Actionable Week 10 Stats

We’re going to get a lot of stuff wrong, but sifting through usage metrics can help us work through what matters and what doesn’t. That’s the goal of this article: to break down the most actionable takeaways from each week in a concise, numbers-filled format and work through what’s important. Let’s get right to it:

1. With Jakobi Meyers in Jacksonville, the Raiders turned to Dont’e Thornton as their second outside wideout and Tyler Lockett in the slot (18 of 28 routes from the slot). Thornton out-snapped Lockett, but Lockett out-routed Thornton 28-21 and led the Raiders with six targets for a 22% target share. Jack Bech was the clear WR4 with eight routes. It’s not ideal that Lockett is leading a team in targets in the year 2025, and Brock Bowers only had an 11.1% target share one week removed from a 3-TD outing. Michael Mayer was actually second on Las Vegas in targets but only ran 14 routes, fewer than both Thornton and Lockett.

2. Falcons RBs combined for 77 snaps; the Falcons ran 63 plays. Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier played on the field together frequently in Week 9, with Bijan recording a season-high 96.4% snap rate, and that continued on Sunday with both backs on the field plenty.

3. Aaron Jones left Week 9 due to injury and was questionable entering Sunday. He played 71% of snaps, out-carried Jordan Mason 9-4, and ran 30 routes on 47 dropbacks. PFF’s Nathan Jahnke noted that Jones was out-snapping Mason 24-8 in the first half of Week 9 before getting hurt. The Vikings clearly favor Jones right now with Mason’s role decreasing by the week, and Jones has emerged as the clear RB1 in Minnesota as long as he stays healthy.

4. Justin Fields only dropped back 16 times. Garrett Wilson reinjured his knee. Arian Smith and Tyler Johnson led Jets WRs in snaps, and those two and Isaiah Williams each ran 10 routes, with Jahnke noting that Williams was the primary Wilson replacement in the second half (while Smith and Johnson started alongside Wilson). It’ll be interesting (well, kind of, to the extent that a Tyler Johnson-led WR group can be) to see what this WR rotation looks like if Wilson misses Week 11. John Metchie III made his Jets debut but only ran two routes, so his role could expand as well, and then there’s Adonai Mitchell. Johnson has consistently played a lot without Josh Reynolds, but after that, your guess is as good as mine as to how this WR rotation shakes out next week if Wilson misses.

5. Cedric Tillman returned to play 72.6% of snaps and run 34 routes on 44 dropbacks. Jamari Thrash was the WR3 with 17 routes, but Malachi Corley and Gage Larvadain played as well. As expected, the Browns turned to 2-TE sets instead of playing a WR3 most of the time. David Njoku out-snapped Harold Fannin Jr. 50-48, but Fannin — who hurt his hamstring during the week but was cleared to play — out-routed the veteran 33-22 and out-targeted him 7-2.