- Denver Broncos wide receivers make a difference: There weren’t many big plays in this game, but the rare big plays usually came from the Denver wide receivers like Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant.
- The Las Vegas Raiders‘ wide receivers have a quiet game without Jakobi Meyers: Las Vegas traded their top wide receiver, leading Geno Smith to under 100 passing yards over their first 11 drives.
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Estimated reading time: 5 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 2025.
Las Vegas Raiders @ Denver Broncos
Raiders move on without Jakobi Meyers: The Raiders' top wide receiver was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Tuesday at the trade deadline.
The Raiders started the season with third-round rookie Dont’e Thornton as their X receiver, Tre Tucker as their Z, and Jakobi Meyers in the slot. Second-round rookie Jack Bech started to take Thornton’s role in Week 5 and entirely took over in Week 6. The Raiders brought in some help in the wide receiver room after their Week 8 bye, gaining veteran Tyler Lockett, who reunited with quarterback Geno Smith and head coach Pete Carroll. He took over for Bech as the X receiver in Week 9, despite that not being his usual position. This moved Bech to the bench, and he didn’t play an offensive snap, while Thornton was a healthy inactive.
The Meyers loss led Las Vegas to shake up its strategy. Lockett took Meyers’ spot as the slot receiver. Lockett’s played at least 170 snaps from the slot every season of his career, including this one with the Tennessee Titans. However, Meyers was consistently playing in two-receiver sets, and Lockett was not on Thursday night. Instead, Dont’e Thornton, who was inactive last week, played in both two- and three-receiver sets as their X receiver. Thornton earned his first reception since Week 3. Bech was the fourth wide receiver, rotating in at times, particularly for run plays.
It’s not a great sign for Bech that he lost playing time to a veteran who joined the team, especially since he didn't retain the X job after recently taking it from Thornton. Anyone who added Bech because Meyers is no longer on the team can likely drop him. Lockett would be a fine waiver-wire target in deeper leagues.
Broncos miss Marvin Mims Jr. for a second-straight week: Mims was inactive due to a concussion.
Denver has spent the first eight weeks of the season with a typical Sean Payton wide receiver rotation, where all five wide receivers play at least 25% of the offensive snaps. Courtland Sutton was the only receiver to play over 65% of the snaps this year. Troy Franklin has been the clear second option, playing 64.3%, while Mims and Pat Bryant were in a constant battle for the third spot.
The Broncos used a similar wide receiver rotation as last week, as Franklin and Bryant played much more consistently in three-receiver sets. The receivers' snap counts looked like most teams, as there was a clear top two receivers and a third receiver in three-receiver sets. Franklin was the Broncos' top target, as usual. That didn’t lead to many receiving yards, but he scored the Broncos' touchdown.
Mims was limited in practice on Tuesday and Wednesday and is presumably ready to play in Week 11, with 10 days until the game. The question is whether the Broncos will go back to their old rotation from two weeks ago. Franklin leads the Broncos in targets this season, and the gap between him and Sutton has widened in recent weeks. It would make sense to keep him on the field more regularly, as they have the last two weeks. Mims has the second-most yards per route run for the Broncos' wide receivers this season, and Bryant is a distant fourth. While he had a big 43-yard catch, he also committed two offensive penalties this week. It makes sense to keep the third-round rookie some playing time, but it shouldn’t often be at Franklin's expense.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Denver rookie running back R.J. Harvey has cut into J.K. Dobbins‘ playing time on early downs for a second-straight week, but that hasn’t led to Harvey getting a notable increase in touches or Dobbins losing touches.
- The Broncos signed wide receiver Michael Bandy from their own practice squad on Thursday. He was a practice squad call-up last week with Mims out. While he was on the roster, he wasn’t involved with the offense despite being a bigger part of the rotation last week.
- Denver tight end Nate Adkins didn't practice all week due to a knee injury. He was ruled out on Wednesday. The Broncos activated tight end Marcedes Lewis from the practice squad for this game on Thursday to take his place for a second straight week. Lewis’ playing time increased in his second game with the team, cutting into Evan Engram’s playing time in 12 personnel.
- Broncos kicker Wil Lutz didn’t practice on Tuesday due to illness, but he was able to practice on Wednesday.
- Running backs Zamir White and Jaleel McLaughlin were both healthy inactives, as they’ve been most of the season.
- Raiders quarterback Geno Smith played through a quadriceps injury throughout the fourth quarter. The Raiders' next game isn’t for another 11 days, as they play the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football in Week 11, so that will ideally be enough time for Smith’s quadriceps to heal.
- Las Vegas tight end Carter Runyon was a healthy scratch this week. He was active last week, so the Raiders only had three tight ends rather than four.
- The Raiders used two-plus-tight-end sets an exceptionally high 45 times last week. This week, that rate was down considerably, although it was still higher than their season average with Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer healthy.
- Bowers’ playing time continues to be notably lower than most of last season. Bowers reached at least 85% of the offensive snaps in each of his final 10 games last season, and he has not reached that mark in any game this season. Las Vegas ran two plays within 10 yards of scoring, and Bowers was not in for either of those plays.
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.
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