We continue the weekly reports on which players are seeing more time, which are seeing less, and which are the replacements for injured players. This will give you a better idea of which players should be added or dropped in leagues with individual defensive players.
Chiefs 22, Vikings 17
With Jon McGraw out, Donald Washington played the full game at safety. After Justin Houston and Cameron Sheffield split snaps at outside linebacker last week, Houston had 80% of the snaps while Sheffield just 20%. We also saw an increase in snaps for the starting defensive linemen, with Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson each getting roughly 75% of snaps which was the highest they’ve seen this year. Kelly Gregg also was at 62% of snap, where he had never reached 40% previously. Wallace Gilberry and Allen Bailey both saw a decrease down to 20%.
In what could be an awkward change, Erin Henderson played every single down in this game, while older brother E.J. Henderson went from an every down linebacker to just playing 72%. At defensive tackle opposite Kevin Williams, Letroy Guion is up to 52% of snaps, Remi Ayodele at 27%, Fred Evans at 20% and Christian Ballard at 14%. We saw significantly less nickel defense, which meant a lot less Chris Cook.
Lions 34, Cowboys 30
With Justin Durant missing the game, we saw DeAndre Levy increasing his snaps up to an every down player and Bobby Carpenter taking the snaps in the base defense with 62% of the total snaps. At safety Amari Spievey saw an injury, which led to John Wendling playing 41% of snaps. We also saw Aaron Berry out with an injury, so Brandon McDonald took over the nickel cornerback roles. Outside of that, everyone saw roughly the same counts as last week with Ndamukong Suh staying at 90% of snaps.
Outside linebacker Anthony Spencer was back to playing almost every down which was probably the biggest news. The Cowboys needed a lot more multiple defensive back sets, so we saw less of the inside linebackers not named Sean Lee, and defensive linemen not named Jay Ratliff. Gerald Sensabaugh suffered an injury, so we saw a bit more of Alan Ball, Barry Church and Frank Walker.
49ers 24, Eagles 23
The 49ers make it easy, with eight players playing 94% of snap in both week 3 and 4. At safety both Madieu Williams went from 51% of snaps down to 32%, while Reggie Smith went from 30% to 68%. Outside of that, we saw less Parys Haralson and Isaac Sopoaga, and more of Aldon Smith and Shawntae Spencer. You probably want to stick with the every down guys, and avoid these players as they see their snap counts change depending on the kind of game it is.
The big news in Philadelphia is the benching of Casey Matthews who was limited to just two snaps in this game. While you would think Moise Fokou would likely see an increase in snaps, he actually saw a decrease to 47%. It was Brian Rolle who went up from 30% of snaps all the way to 80%, which could very well make him the most attractive player to add based on the changes in snap counts. With the injury to Trent Cole, we saw a slight increase in the snaps for Jason Babin while Phillip Hunt went up from 26% to 36%. The Eagles needed more multiple defensive back sets, so there were slight changes that happened because of this.
Saints 23, Jaguars 10
Week 4 saw a return to the lineup of Jonathan Vilma, which meant JoLonn Dunbar went back down to 55% of snaps and Jonathan Casillas down to 48%, while Vilma played 95%. Cornerback Tracy Porter also returned after missing Weeks 2 and 3, and he played 49% of snaps taking the time from Leigh Torrence. Defensive tackle Tom Johnson was an undrafted free agent in 2006, and hasn’t recorded a defensive snap in the past three seasons as he was in the Canadian Football League saw 45% of snaps. He took snaps from Mitch King who didn’t play at all on defense as well as decreasing Aubrayo Franklin and Shaun Rogers role to just 26% of snaps each.
The biggest change is William Middleton returned at cornerback after missing Week 3 and played 92% of snaps, leaving Derek Cox who played 95% of snaps last week to not play this time around. We also saw Matt Roth return to the defensive line after missing Week 3 and play 55% of the game. The player who suffered the most from this is Austen Lane, who went back down to 33% of snaps which was about the same as the first two weeks.
Patriots 31, Raiders 19
As usual the Patriots saw a lot of change in their snap counts. At defensive back Leigh Bodden missed the game while Patrick Chung came back and played every snap. Sergio Brown and Josh Barrett played every snap last week, but Brown only played half this week and Barrett a fourth. At cornerback Antwaun Molden took some of the slack, playing 43% of snaps, while at safety James Ihedigbo did with 21% after not playing a defensive snap last week. At linebacker, Jerod Mayo got hurt and will miss six weeks. In his place Gary Guyton went up to 69% of snaps, while Tracy White saw his first action of the season with 23% of snaps. Finally on the defensive line Gerard Warren made his season debut with half the snaps on the defensive line. He mostly took that time from Kyle Love who went from 50% to 33% and Landon Cohen who didn’t play. On a last note, Vince Wilfork already played more than most defensive tackles in the league, but in this game he played 99% of snaps.
The Raiders went through a little less change; mostly coming from injuries. Matt Shaughnessy, Chris Johnson and Michael Huff all didn’t play in this game. At cornerback, Chimdi Chekwa took the snaps playing 93% of the game. On the line Lamarr Houston saw the biggest increase going from 41% to 64% of snaps. In Week 3 Jerome Boyd took the snaps at safety that were missed, but due to less multiple defensive back packages he saw a decrease to 49% from 60%.
Redskins 17, Rams 10
The only two things to note out of Washington is Brian Orakpo who missed some time last week went back to playing 95% of snaps this week. A few players saw a slight decrease which in turn led to Kevin Barnes going back to 67% of snaps as the Redskins needed a fifth defensive back more often in this game than last.
The biggest news was James Butler who played a little bit the first three weeks didn’t play at all. The Rams needed less nickel packages, so Al Harris saw less time. Defensive linemen James Hall and Eugene Sims saw more time up to 64% and 50%, with Gary Gibson and Dorell Scott saw less down to 26% and 21%.
Texans 17, Steelers 10
The most significant difference is Kareem Jackson missed the game, so instead of Jason Allen taking some time from Jackson, he played 95% of the game. The other change was Mario Williams was back to his typical self seeing 94% of the snaps compared to last week where he was down to 72%. We also saw a decrease out of J.J. Watt who was down to 75% of this game.
The Steelers have tended to stay consistent, but there is a lot to talk about this week. First off James Harrison is hurt, and while he is gone it looks like 2010 2nd round pick Jason Worilds will get his snaps which he did in Week 4 with 9. At inside linebacker James Farrior had only been playing about two thirds of the game with Larry Foote playing one third, but in this game it was close to 80:20. On the defensive line we saw a lot less of Aaron Smith who was down to 55% of snaps, and a little less of Ziggy Hood who was down to 86%. In their place, Casey Hampton was back up to 71% of snaps which is similar to his Week 1, while Cameron Heyward saw by far his most snaps with 47%.
Buccaneers 24, Colts 17
As expected in the absence of Cdy Grimm, Corey Lynch became the starter at safety and played 82% of snaps. At linebacker Geno Hayes saw a lot more time, going back up to 74% although Mason Foster still played full time instead of him. Quincy Black was back but only played 30% of the time while Dekoda Watson saw a lot less time down to 19%. On the defensive line Gerald McCoy saw 93% of snaps which is very high for him. The rest of the starters saw more snaps while the backups saw less. This included a big leap for Brian Price who went up to 61% of snaps. Safety Larry Asante made his debut this year, with 10 snaps which was more than any game last year.
After seeing a lot change the first few weeks, there is a lot less to report this time around. The big news is the injury to Eric Foster. Antonio Johnson saw an increase in snaps up to 67%, while Tyler Brayton increased the most up to 63%. The Colts used less multiple defensive back sets which led to more time for linebackers and less in defensive backs in general.
Bears 34, Panthers 29
Week 4 gave us the return of Major Wright at safety, which left Craig Steltz on the bench. The Bears typically have some sort of safety rotation, but not this time around where Brandon Meriweather yet again played every snap, and Wright only coming out to let Zackary Bowman play some cornerback. At defensive end both starters only played 80% of the game, giving more time to backups Nick Reed who played 24% and Corey Wootton who saw his first plays of the season and played 15% of the game. At defensive tackle we saw more time out of Amobi Okoye going up to 54% while Anthony Adams went down to 28%.
A lot of changes in Carolina, with Chris Gamble, Jordan Pugh and Andre Neblett all not seeing any action after each of them playing in week of the three weeks, while Charles Godfrey returned and played every down. We saw many of minor increases in snap counts across the board, with the most significant one being Omar Gaither who played 51% of snaps mostly thanks to Jason Williams only playing 18%. Probably the most fantasy impact is Dan Connor who was up to 73% of snaps this week after playing 62% last week.
Ravens 34, Jets 17
The Ravens stayed very consistent except at safety where Bernard Pollard played every down while Tom Zbikowski only played 18% of the game. Cornerback Chris Carr didn’t play at all, while was the same for linebacker Dannell Ellerbe. Benefiting the most from these moves was Danny Gorrer who played 42% of the game at cornerback while Jameel McClain went up to 68% of snap at linebacker compared to his 52% last week.
The Jets have probably been affected the least by injury on defense, with 17 players playing all four weeks so far. That might change with Bryan Thomas suffering an injury, which led to Jamaal Westerman playing 74% of snaps. This means if you are in a deep IDP league and need a linebacker pickup, Westerman could be your guy. Outside of that, the only thing to note is that Aaron Maybin saw his first six snaps of the season with the Jets defense.
Falcons 30, Seahawks 28
The Falcons didn’t see much of a change; with an increase in nickel defense so more Kelvin Hayden and less Mike Peterson. Other than that, we see John Abraham play 88% of snaps which is a nice increase for him. Ray Edwards also saw an increase up to 84%, which of course meant less Kroy Biermann who just played 55%.
The big change in Seattle was Kam Chancellor who hadn’t missed a snap yet being inactive, which let to Atari Bigby getting the start and playing the whole game. This leaves Earl Thomas as the only player on the team to play every down this season. At linebacker, David Hawthorne went up to playing every down, while Aaron Curry went back up to playing 44% of the game. In return, Matt McCoy didn’t play and K.J. Wright saw a decrease down to 29%. There was some minor changes to the defensive line distribution. Most significantly Red Bryant went up to playing 70% of this game.
Packers 49, Broncos 23
Most of the changes in this game came from a lot more 3-4 defensive fronts rather than 2-4-5. Suffering the most was Sam Shields who only played 54% of the game, while pass rushers B.J. Raji and Jarius Wynn saw slight decreases. In return, Ryan Pickett was back up to 51%, while C.J. Wilson increased to 34% and Howard Green to 27%. Going forward the Packers will likely stick with the 2-4-5, so this was all temporary.
Probably the biggest snap count news came out of Denver, where D.J. Williams came back after not playing all year, and played 99% of the snaps, while Elvis Dumervil came back after a two week hiatus and played 78% of snaps. I would say everyone lost snaps because of this which is mostly true. Wesley Woodyard and Robert Ayers went from 100% of snaps last week to close to 65% this week. Joe Mays went down from 97% to 35%, Kevin Vickerson went from 79% to 32% and Derrick Harvey from 41% to 18%. These changes weren’t all due to the return of Williams and Dumervil. We also saw the NFL debut of Chris Harris Jr. at cornerback and fourth round pick Quinton Carter at safety; both of which had over 20% of snaps.
Bengals 23, Bills 20
The biggest change in snap counts came from the Bengals playing a nickel defense almost the entire game. This left Manny Lawson off the field and only playing 7% of snaps, with Gibril Wilson increasing up to 68% of snaps and Morgan Trent returning after missing two weeks and playing 12%. Outside of that, we saw Robert Geathers come back after last playing in Week 1, and playing 32% of snaps. Losing the most snaps from this is Jonathan Fanene who went from 56% to 32%.
The Bills slot cornerback Aaron Williams missed this game, but the players gaining snaps were mostly in the front seven because the Bills played a lot less dime. This also meant Bryan Scott went from 92% of snaps to 53%. Benefiting the most from this was Andra Davis who played 49% of the game. On the line Dwan Edwards went from 37% to 59%, and Torell Troup made his first appearance of the season and played 23%. However with how much the Bills change from one week to another, you probably want to avoid starting all of these players.
Titans 31, Browns 13
The Titans saw basically the same players play from Week 3 to Week 4. The biggest changes in snap counts included Will Witherspoon playing 90% of the game after just 78% last week while Akeem Ayers went down to 46%. On the line, Jason Jones went down to 57% of the snaps after playing in the 70’s the last two weeks, while Derrick Morgan saw an increase to 68% after playing just 49% last week.
The Browns saw the exact same players see time between Week 3 and 4, and only two players saw a change of more or less than 10% between the weeks. Those players are Joe Haden who went down to 85% due to an injury. If he misses any time, Dimitri Patterson who played half the game would take his place as the starting corner, and Buster Skrine would likely play in the nickel situations. Increasing in snaps was Chris Gocong who went from 63% to 80%, which was the highest percentage for him this season.
Chargers 26, Dolphins 16
Missing this game was Quentin Jammer, so Marcus Gilchrist took over as the starting cornerback. At defensive end Jacques Cesaire missed this game, but taking his place was Corey Liuget who returned and saw 47% of snaps. Tommie Harris joined the team and the defensive line, which led to us seeing a little less of Antonio Garay and even less of Cam Thomas. At inside linebacker, Donald Butler saw even less time in this one with just 56% of the snaps, while Na’il Diggs saw his numbers increase again, this time with 42% of snaps.
The injury news in Miami was Koa Misi missing the game, which resulted in Jason Taylor playing half the game to playing three fourths of the game. We also saw less of Cameron Wake, who only played 79% of the snaps. Taking some of those snaps was Jason Trusnik who saw time with the defense for the first time and playing 23% of the game. After missing last week, we saw returns for Phillip Merling and Marvin Michell who saw 26% and 18% of snaps each.
Giants 31, Cardinals 27
The big news for the Giants was Osi Umenyiora seeing his first action of the season. He played in 55% of the snaps. It wasn’t as exciting as it could have been, as Justin Tuck missed the game. Since Tuck only replaces some of his snaps, we also saw Jason Pierre-Paul go up to 93% of snaps and Dave Tollefson up to 72%. Other than that, the only major news was Deon Grant who had been playing the majority of games go down to 67% in this one.
In Week 3 the Cardinals eased Daryl Washington back to action, but in this game he was all the way back with 97% of snaps. This left Stewart Bradley back to only playing 3% of snaps. At cornerback Richard Marshall went from playing two thirds of the game to one third, with Michael Adams taking a bit of time at 18%.
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