There are very few teams that are playing starters in the preseason now that I’m changing up the formatting for this article. I will still have all of the same information that was in the game reviews, but this will be way easier to follow.
NOTE: Unless otherwise cited, all of the RB snap and WR/TE route information are from my own logs watching the games or NFL GSIS gamebooks. I would hardly call what I’m doing “charting” – we’re just counting the skill-players on the field with the first-team offense. I do not care about which receivers were on the field blocking on run plays. We’re only counting pass routes for WR/TE. This is because receivers like Tank Dell shouldn’t be run-blocking often in the first place and he can’t score FP on running plays anyway (unless he’s the one taking the hand-off).
Through two weeks, the following teams have not played any of their starters on offense:
Key Starters Did Not Play in Weeks 1-2
We’re only focusing on quarterbacks and skill-players as starters.
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Los Angeles Rams
New York Jets
Minnesota Vikings – WR Justin Jefferson and RB Aaron Jones won’t play. QB Sam Darnold was put on ice in Week 2 after J.J. McCarthy’s devastating knee injury.
Philadelphia Eagles
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Starters Played Week 1, DNP Week 2
These teams played some or all of their starters for at least one drive in Week 1 – but rested their guys in Week 2.
Buffalo Bills – QB Josh Allen played in the first quarter (8 snaps) of Week 1 and then was replaced. Allen didn’t play in Week 2, but their starting RB/WR/TE did. WR Keon Coleman will lead the Bills in routes this season with Shakir and Samuel working as rotational receivers.
Cincinnati Bengals – QB Joe Burrow marched the first-team offense down the field for a TD to Tee Higgins, and then didn’t return in their first preseason game. These were the Bengals WR/TE/RB route counts on Burrow’s seven dropbacks: Higgins (7), Trenton Irwin (7), Andrei Iosivas (7), Mike Gesicki (6), Chase Brown (5), and Drew Sample (2). However, RB Zack Moss (illness) and WR Ja’Marr Chase (contract) DNP Week 1.
Green Bay Packers – QB Jordan Love hit Dontayvion Wicks for a gorgeous 65-yard TD and then were put on ice. These were the Packers WR/TE/RB route counts on Love’s two dropbacks: Luke Musgrave (2), Josh Jacobs (2), Romeo Doubs (2), Christian Watson (1), Dontayvion Wicks (1), and Jayden Reed (1).
Indianapolis Colts – QB Anthony Richardson, RB Jonathan Taylor, WR Michael Pittman played two drives (six snaps) in Week 1. WR Josh Downs (ankle) didn’t play.
Jacksonville Jaguars – QB Trevor Lawrence and the first-team offense played two drives (9 snaps) in Week 1. These were the Jaguars WR/TE/RB route counts on Lawrence’s five dropbacks: WR Brian Thomas (5), WR Gabe Davis (5), TE Evan Engram (5), WR Christian Kirk (4), RB Travis Etienne (3), and TE Luke Farrell (1).
Tennessee Titans – QB Will Levis and all of the starters played two drives (14 snaps) in Week 1 – except for WR DeAndre Hopkins (knee). Overall, RBs Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears split snaps 8 to 6 (in favor of Pollard).
Starters DNP Week 1, but Played in Week 2
These teams rested in Week 1 – but played some or all of their starters for at least one drive in Week 2.
Los Angeles Chargers – Sort of. Obviously, QB Justin Hebert (foot) DNP. Neither did their starting RBs Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins. WRs Josh Palmer (8 snaps) and Ladd McConkey (16 snaps) got their first preseason run. Sixth-round rookie RB Kimani Vidal got extended snaps (28 total), and he played deep into the fourth quarter. RB Jarrett Patterson “started” and played into the fourth quarter as well (24 snaps). RB Isaiah Spiller played a handful of snaps (7) in the first half and then didn’t return. These three – Vidal, Patterson, and Spiller – are battling for the RB3 job. Chargers ace beat reporter Daniel Popper believes Vidal’s performance (11/49 rushing) was enough to leapfrog Spiller as the favorite as RB3.
New York Giants – QB Daniel Jones’ 2024 debut was scary bad.
Miami Dolphins – QB Tua Tagovailoa played, but he didn’t have top WRs Tyreek Hill or Jaylen Waddle.
Finally, here are the teams that we’ve seen play starters in back-to-back preseason games:
Starters Played in Weeks 1 and 2
We’re only focusing on quarterbacks and skill-players as starters.
Chicago Bears
Denver Broncos
Houston Texans
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders – We’ve seen all of the Raiders except for WR Davante Adams.
New England Patriots – TE Hunter Henry (minor injury) hasn’t played in Weeks 1-2. The Patriots staff are making rookie WRs Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker “earn” it. This is standard rookie treatment. Let’s be serious here: Polk will not be behind K.J. Osborn and Tyquan Thornton for a long time – if at all – during the regular season.
New Orleans Saints
Pittsburgh Steelers
Washington Commanders
Things We’ve Actually Learned
We always have to be extremely careful and hesitant to extrapolate preseason usage when it’s only a handful of snaps. If the trade-off for dramatically lowered starter usage during August is significantly fewer injuries, we’ll take it!
Here are the few notable tidbits I’ve learned:
TL;DR
Keep fading Raiders RB Zamir White
Bears TE Cole Kmet has run fewer routes (7) than Gerald Everett (9) with QB Caleb Williams
Giants QB Daniel Jones struggles; WR Malik Nabers – 6 targets on 19 routes
Chiefs WR Rashee Rice leads the team in routes (17) and targets (6) on Mahomes 18 preseason dropbacks
Commanders RBs Brian Robinson (16 snaps) and Austin Ekeler (13 snaps) have split work down the middle, as expected
Broncos RBs split snaps 11 to 9 – in favor of McLaughlin – on Nix’s 20 snaps
Texans WRs – don’t read too much into the route distribution
Chicago Bears – Reasonably extended look starters
HC Matt Eberflus said that he wanted to get Caleb Williams plenty of work in the preseason to knock the rust off, and he’s held true to his word.
RB D’Andre Swift played two snaps in the Bears opening preseason game, and then didn’t return. He rested in Week 2 against Cincinnati. RB Roschon Johson started in the Hall-of-Fame game, but he has not suited up in Weeks 1-2 due to an undisclosed injury.
These are the Bears WR/TE route counts on Williams’ 16 dropbacks across two preseason games: WR Keenan Allen (16), WR DJ Moore (13), WR Rome Odunze (10), TE Gerald Everett (9), and TE Cole Kmet (7).
Williams came back out for a fourth drive against the Bengals in Week 2, but receivers Allen and Moore didn’t return. I stopped counting routes at this point.
The biggest takeaway is that Cole Kmet and Gerald Everett appear headed for a nasty TE by committee. This is a Shane Waldron special. Everett has been on the field instead of Kmet on 5-of-6 third-down pass plays, lined up as a big slot receiver. Waldron brought over Everett from their time together with the Rams and Seahawks. Kmet was only the TE20 in route share last season at 62% so he can ill afford a split with Everett if he’s going to remain a streaming TE fantasy option. I’ve tanked Kmet in my best ball rankings.
Denver Broncos – RBs split snaps
QB Bo Nix and the Broncos starters played 20 snaps in Week 2 vs. the Packers. Nix was far more comfortable in this game, leading two scoring drives on his two possessions of work.
These are the Broncos WR/TE/RB route counts on Nix’s 12 dropbacks: WR Courtland Sutton (11), WR Tim Patrick (9), RB Jaleel McLaughlin (8), WR Josh Reynolds (7), TE Adam Trautman (3), TE Lucas Krull (3), TE Greg Dulcich (3), and WR Marvin Mims (1).
Denver’s 3-WR set appears to be set with the veterans. Marvin Mims is buried. HC Sean Payton is going to go with a three-man TE rotation – fun!
Their backfield is clear-cut right now. Javonte Williams will play on 50-60% of early-downs with Jaleel McLaughlin mixing in heavily in passing situations. The duo split snaps 11 to 9 – in favor of McLaughlin – on Nix’s 20 snaps. Rookie RB Audric Estime is the direct backup to the early-down role.
Houston Texans – First look at WR rotation
These are the Texans WR/TE/RB route counts on CJ Stroud’s 14 dropbacks across two preseason games: WR Nico Collins (14), WR Stefon Diggs (11), WR Tank Dell (8), TE Dalton Schultz (8), TE Brevin Jordan (3), WR Robert Woods (2), WR John Metchie (1), WR Xavier Hutchinson (1), and TE Cade Stover (1).
Dell had a nice 23-yard reception called back due to holding at the end of the first quarter. It was his only route where he lined up opposite Collins in the Texans' 2-WR grouping. I wouldn’t read too much into the route distribution.
Collins already had the slight edge as the Texans WR1, in my view. In their eight full games together last season, Collins led Tank Dell in first-read target share by a 28% to 22% margin. Robert Woods was the third WR with a 20% FR share.
Last year, Collins (59% route share), Woods (55%), and Dell (50%) rotated when the Texans went into 12-personnel (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR). We’ll likely see a similar distribution this season with Diggs in the fold and Dell as the most likely to sit out in some 2-TE sets.
Houston should line up in 3-WR sets more often than last year and they will remain very pass-heavy out of 11-personnel. When Collins and Dell were both healthy, Houston passed the ball out of their 3-WR personnel package 78% of the time (third-highest rate).
Kansas City Chiefs – Rashee Rice leads Chiefs in routes + targets
These are the Chiefs WR/TE/RB route counts on Patrick Mahomes’ 18 dropbacks through two preseason games: WR Rashee Rice (17), TE Travis Kelce (15), WR Xavier Worthy (15), WR Justin Watson (12), RB Isiah Pacheco (9), RB Carson Steele (5), WR Skyy Moore (4), TE Noah Gray (4), and WR Marquise Brown (1 – injured).
Pacheco played on the opening drive vs. Lions and then rested for the second drive and the remainder of the game. Carson Steele was the next RB in rotation after Pacheco for the second drive with Mahomes. Steele was stuffed for just five yards on his 5 touches. Note: Clyde Edwards-Helaire did not play.
Mahomes has attempted 18 passes this preseason. Rashee Rice leads the Chiefs in targets (6) followed by Xavier Worthy (4), Travis Kelce (2), Pacheco (2), Steele (2), Watson (1), and Brown (1).
Worthy had a nice long play with Mahomes on a blown coverage and scored a TD from Carson Wentz against the Lions backups. Worthy is electric, but that sound that you hear is his ADP taking off the launchpad. It just reached the Stratosphere.
RB Deneric Prince was the Chiefs third RB in rotation. He has some juice. He took his eight touches for 53 yards.
Las Vegas Raiders – Keep fading Zamir White
Raiders new starting QB Gardner Minshew played the entire first half of Week 2 – albeit without star WR Davante Adams.
On Gardner Minshew’s 27 snaps, RB Zamir White led Alexander Mattison in snaps by a hair (14 to 12). The duo split pass routes as well (8).
This is a massive concern for anyone taking White at his seventh-round ADP, but Fantasy Points subscribers should have drafted zero of the Raiders RB to this point. We’ve had him buried below ADP in projections and best-ball rankings for this very reason. White has never been a workhorse at any level of his career and had questionable passing game upside to begin with. Now, it seems like Mattison is a legitimate threat. Dylan Laube will mix on passing-downs, too. I view White as an early-down grinder on a weak offense.
New England Patriots – Drake Maye’s Week 1 starting chances
QB Jacoby Brissett went 3-of-7 for 17 yards with a horrific 3rd-and-3 INT in the red-zone on a late throw over the middle. He looked like a rookie against the Eagles. Brissett’s night was over after three drives. Drake Maye wasn’t asked to make many downfield progressions when he came onto the field, but he moved the offense significantly better than Brissett did. The Patriots have a brutal opening schedule as 7.5-point or larger underdogs in three of 4 games to open the campaign (vs. CIN / SEA / NYJ / SF). I’m teeing up Bengals D/ST in Week 1 as a streamer.
Tyquan Thornton and K.J. Osborn ran ahead of Ja’Lynn Polk when Brissett was on the field, but I’m chalking this up to veteran deference and making the rookie Polk “earn” his job.
New Orleans Saints – Olave gets peppered with targets
With WR Rashid Shaheed and TE Juwan Johnson sidelined, the Saints WR/TE rotation on Carr’s 15 dropbacks through two preseason games is as follows: WR Chris Olave (15), WR Cedrick Wilson (14), TE Foster Moreau (11), TE/RB Taysom Hill (8), WR Bub Means (4), and RB Alvin Kamara (4 – DNP Week 2).
Olave has seen 8 targets on just 15 pass attempts from Derek Carr across five drives of work this preseason. With Michael Thomas gone and a very thin WR corps after him and Shaheed, Olave is set to easily set a new career high in targets.
New York Giants – Daniel Jones extremely shaky
QB Daniel Jones’ first game back from his knee injury sustained in Week 9 last season could not have gone much worse. He played the entire first half.
On his first throw of the game, Texans CB Derek Stingley stared at Jones the entire way and jumped the quick stick route. The ball would have been picked off and returned for a TD if Malik Nabers hadn’t gotten in the way.
On his second drive, he made one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever seen from a six-year veteran. The end-zone view is 10x worse than the broadcast angle.
I find it difficult to accept the "rust" excuse for a decision like this one from Daniel Jones in his sixth NFL season.
— Dan Schneier (@DanSchneierNFL) August 18, 2024
These are the types of decisions that lose you football games unless you can balance them with 70+ yard TDs, or super efficient red zone passing. #Giants pic.twitter.com/5XVQISPbUn
Texans CB Stingley eventually got his revenge. On the third drive, Jones threw a go ball up the sidelines intended for Jalin Hyatt that was never open. Stingley ran the route step for step with Hyatt and intercepted the pass.
On his fourth drive, Jones had a great throw on a go ball to Darius Slayton to set up a one-yard TD plunge by Devin Singletary. I still think Slayton is underrated – he can still run. It was the only highlight of Jones’ day.
The upside here is that Malik Nabers looks ready to go off in Week 1. He’s shown elite separation skills and has rare contested catch ability and body control along the sidelines. I’m on Nabers as a volume-based WR2 who can push for 140-150 targets, but I question his upside with Jones under center. If Jones stinks, we’re looking at Drew Lock making starts. Tyrod Taylor is a Jet. The good news? Nabers earned 6 targets on his 19 routes (4/54 receiving).
These are the Giants WR/TE/RB route counts on Jones’ 21 dropbacks in Week 2: WR Malik Nabers (19), WR Wan’Dale Robinson (17), RB Devin Singletary (15), WR Jalin Hyatt (12), TE Theo Johnson (13), WR Darius Slayton (10), TE Daniel Bellinger (7), and TE Chris Manhertz (2).
Rookie TE Theo Johnson already has the slight lead over Daniel Bellinger heading into Week 1.
WR Wan’Dale Robinson lined up in the slot on all but two of his total snaps (18-of-20 per PFF), but he’s the clear #2 receiver on this team. Hyatt and Slayton will rotate at perimeter receiver opposite of Nabers.
Pittsburgh Steelers – RBs rotate; Warren picks up injury
Through two preseason games, the Steelers running backs have picked up right where they left off. Najee Harris has played 19 snaps while Jaylen Warren has played 17. Warren picked up a hamstring injury during the game, throwing his Week 1 availability into question. This just further highlights the contingent upside for both RB if one misses time since this is a 50/50 committee again.
Washington Commanders – First look at RB rotation
These are the Commanders WR/TE/RB route counts on Jayden Daniels’ 15 dropbacks: WR Terry McLaurin (15), WR Jahan Dotson (14), TE John Bates (12), WR Dyami Brown (9), RB Austin Ekeler (8), RB Brian Robinson (5), TE Ben Sinnott (2), and TE Cole Turner (1).
Note: Veteran TE Zach Ertz didn’t play Weeks 1-2.
Daniels has played 29 snaps this preseason. Brian Robinson (16 snaps) and Austin Ekeler (13 snaps) have split work down the middle, as expected.
Daniels is getting the ball out very quickly, but he’s been efficient. He’s completed 12-of-15 passes for 123 yards while adding 3/16/1 as a runner. That’s 12.5 FP scored in about two quarters worth of work.
Final Notes
Jets RB Isaiah Davis started the game and split snaps with Braelon Allen (16 to 13 – in favor of Allen) in Week 2. Jets beat reporters have made it seem like Allen is the clear favorite as the backup to Breece Hall. Allen is still the most likely handcuff – but this RB2 battle might not be over. Allen grinded for 8/27 rushing with a long run of four yards. Davis wasn’t much better (4/14 rushing).
Miami RB Jaylen Wright DNP in Week 2 due to a “minor” injury per HC Mike McDaniel. Veteran RBs Jeff Wilson and Salvon Ahmed also did not play in Week 2. RB De’Von Achane led the Dolphins in receiving (32 yards) while lined up as a slot or outside receiver on 4-of-11 routes run (per PFF). Achane’s 26-yard reception was a zone hole shot on the perimeter.
Browns RB D’Onta Foreman played into the third quarter in Week 2 vs. Vikings. He was stuffed for 10/18/1 rushing but added 5/46 receiving. Jerome Ford’s role early in the season will be strong.
