• Travis Kelce dominates the Denver Broncos: Kelce caught passes early and often and finished with 124 receiving yards, a season-best at the position.
• The Broncos return two players: Javonte Williams and Greg Dulcich both returned for Denver on a limited basis, but that wasn’t enough to help the offense.
• One rookie wide receiver gets an increased role: Rashee Rice has slowly but surely increased his role in the Kansas City Chiefs offense, while Marvin Mims was held without a target.
Estimated reading time: 8 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 2023.
Denver Broncos @ Kansas City Chiefs
- Travis Kelce: 9 receptions, 124 yards
- Isiah Pacheco: 16 carries, 62 yards; 6 receptions, 36 receiving yards
Javonte Williams returns: The Broncos’ regular starter missed Week 5 with a quad injury.
- Undrafted rookie Jaleel McLaughlin played admirably in Williams’ absence, just as he did in his limited opportunities before Week 5. McLaughlin started tonight’s game.
- Williams was on the field by the second play. Each running back played one or two snaps before being rotated out for the other.
- Both players looked good when given the opportunity. Unfortunately, this means Denver will likely continue this kind of rotation. It will make both running backs unpredictable, particularly in games where Denver is down early. They should remain on fantasy rosters, but it will be difficult to start them.
- Samaje Perine was largely phased out of the offense. He had been receiving some work on early downs, but that rarely happened in this game. He had also played the third-down snaps in weeks past, but fullback Michael Burton took the third-down work tonight.
- Perine at least played during the two-minute drill to end each half. He caught a 15-yard pass during the two-minute drill in the first half and was the leader in receiving yards for Denver over the first three quarters. He can be cut from most fantasy leagues.
Greg Dulcich temporarily returns from injured reserve: The Broncos tight end was activated earlier today but didn’t get many opportunities before leaving the game early.
- Dulcich’s playing time was a big topic in the preseason, as Adam Trautman took all of the first- and second-down work while Dulcich played in two-tight end sets and on third downs.
- He played in clear passing situations in this game, notably taking most third-and-long plays and plays in the two-minute drills.
- He didn't play in two tight-end sets; that work almost always went to Trautman and Chris Manhertz.
- Around the end of the third quarter, he was deemed questionable with a hamstring injury and didn’t return.
- Dulcich caught one pass for 3 yards on two targets.
- For Dulcich to have a chance at fantasy relevance, he needs to play in two-tight end sets, more in 11 personnel on early downs, and the Broncos' passing game needs to improve.
Jerry Jeudy’s role decreases: Jeudy played fewer snaps than expected and recorded only 14 receiving yards.
- Jeudy played at least 83% of the Broncos' offensive snaps last season when he was healthy.
- He was at 76% or fewer in his first three games this season when he was still returning from a hamstring injury, which could explain the limited role.
- Jeudy played 86% of snaps last week against the Jets, so everything seemed back on track. However, he played only 10-of-20 snaps over the first four drives tonight and mixed in more while the Broncos played from behind.
- The offseason trade rumors around Jeudy have heated up recently. His usage in this game and the Broncos' recent personnel moves will only add to the speculation.
Chiefs wide receiver madness continues: The Chiefs constantly rotated wide receivers, as they’ve done all season.
- Marquez Valdes-Scantling has been the one constant. MVS has led the wide receiver room in routes run every week, and he did so again on Thursday night. However, he’s yet to see more than three targets in a game this season.
- The biggest change this week was an increase in routes by rookie Rashee Rice.
- Rice had slowly but surely been catching up with Skyy Moore in routes run, but last week, he ran only 10 routes while Moore ran 23.
- This week, the two were used almost interchangeably. Rice caught four passes for a career-high 72 yards, while Moore caught two passes for 22 yards.
- Kadarius Toney also played at least 25 offensive snaps for the second straight week after being held under 20 in each of the first four.
- Justin Watson suffered an elbow injury with 10 minutes left in the game. He’s maintained a 23.7-yard average depth of target this season.
- If Watson misses time, all of the wide receivers would likely see a slight increase in snaps, but Valdes-Scantling would likely see the biggest increase in targets as the Chiefs’ other deep threat.
- None of the wide receivers surpassed 30 receiving yards, but we at least inched closer to Rice or Toney potentially being viable fantasy options.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Travis Kelce reached over 100 receiving yards before halftime. This was the second 100-yard game by a tight end this season, with Dallas Goedert accomplishing this first last week. It was also the first 100-yard first half by a tight end since George Kittle in Week 13 of the 2021 season.
- Isiah Pacheco’s role has continued to increase. He played over 60% of snaps in the first half for the first time in his career, but he was rotated out more in the second half while his team maintained the lead.
- Broncos rookie wide receiver Marvin Mims experienced a slight increase in playing time in the last two weeks, but his playing time took a hit tonight.
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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