Preseason Week 3 Fantasy Football Game Recap: New England Patriots vs. Tennessee Titans

• Multiple players only play one drive: Kayshon Boutte of the New England Patriots and Ryan Tannehill and Trevon Wesco of the Tennessee Titans played one drive before taking the rest of the night off.

• Only one backfield is settled: Tyjae Spears appears locked into the second running back spot for Tennessee, while New England still doesn’t seem to know who their third running back will be.

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Kayshon Boutte’s roster spot is safe: Boutte played the first drive, and then his day was done.

• JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne are locked in the top three spots on the depth chart. All three played in the Patriots' second preseason game and had the other two games off.
• Sixth-round rookie Demario Douglas received three snaps with the starters in that game — two more than Boutte — but Douglas has been dealing with a shoulder injury.
• Tyquan Thornton is also dealing with an undisclosed injury. Thornton’s roster spot is only safe if New England keeps six wide receivers.
• Ty Montgomery has also got work as a wide receiver and is listed as a receiver on the depth chart, but he’s missed the entire preseason. He returned to practice earlier this week and might be on the outside looking in for a roster spot.

Patriots' third running back spot remains wide open: There is no clear winner between Pierre Strong, Kevin Harris and J.J. Taylor.

• Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott sat this game out and are the top two running backs on the roster.
• The three rotated in and out throughout the entire first preseason game. Strong started and rotated by drive with Harris, while Taylor took most passing situations.
• Strong missed the last game after spending time in the concussion protocol.
• Harris and Taylor took snaps over the first four drives for New England, with Strong not entering the game until the middle of the second quarter. However, his fall on the depth chart for this game could be due to his missed practice time.
• Most recent 53-man roster projections by Patriots beat writers have put Strong on the roster with Harris and Taylor off.
• As mentioned with the wide receivers, Ty Montgomery could also factor in here as a receiving back and serve as the third running back if he makes the roster.

Tyjae Spears remains the favorite to be the backup running back: Spears took every snap for the Titans on their first two drives.

• He’s dominated first-quarter snaps over the three preseason games. He's played 38, compared to eight by Hassan Haskins and seven by Julis Chestnut.
• Haskins has not been practicing over the last two weeks for undisclosed reasons. He was reportedly arrested on an aggravated assault charge a month ago, which could be a factor. Most Titans beat writers have left the former fourth-round pick off their projected 53-man rosters.
• Julius Chestnut seems set as the Titans' third running back.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki both sat this game out due to injury. Henry was banged up after Wednesday’s practice, while Gesicki recently returned to practice but was held out as a precaution. We have yet to see the two tight ends play together in the preseason.
• DeAndre Hopkins was among the Titans veterans who had the night off, while Treylon Burks and Kyle Philips missed the game with injuries. Chris Moore appears to be the favorite to start if Burks misses Week 1, while Westbrook-Ikhine will likely take slot duties if Philips misses Week 1.
• Quarterback Ryan Tannehill and tight end Trevon Wesco are the expected starters who played in this game, but they played only on the first drive before taking the night off.
• Sleeper tight end candidate Chigoziem Okonkwo was among the players with the night off.

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.